The Longing of the Ren-Bird
by Eaglechild
Summary: As devastation strikes, Ranalla, the leader of the Sheikah, is sent to the King of the Gerudo in order to conceive a very special child. But how can she accomplish her task if she loses herself in a network of love, hate, jealousy, and the schemes of two evil sisters who are the servants of a desperate god?
1. Chapter 1

A/N: This is the beginning of an epic story about love and magic.

At last, I found a native English speaking person who kindly proofread the story for me. I apologize for the many mistakes that were in the text before, and present you the new, corrected version, where all mistakes should be fixed.

In this story, there will be dialogs in the languages of the Gerudo and the Sheikah. For both languages, I have posted a grammar containing a dictionary. There you can look up the Gerudo and Sheikah words and phrases. Fanfiction removes all the links, but you will find the grammar if you enter "The Language of the Gerudo" or "The Language of the Sheikah" respectively in the search field for "Story". You may also find the translation of the phrases contained in a chapter at the end of the respective chapter text.

Please note: this story is for adult readers. There is some violence and lots of passionate love scenes, but no bad language.

Enjoy!

Eaglechild

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

 **Chapter 1**

1

"Ouch!"

Ranalla, the First of the Sheikah, grabbed her right bicep, where Impa's blade had hit her with full force.

"You must dodge!" shouted Impa. "Rast says that you cannot parry such a blow. You need to avoid it," she added as she came to Ranalla and checked the fabric of her dark combat suit.

"I'm all right," said Ranalla, grimacing and rubbing her arm with clenched teeth. "Fortunately, we took the blunt swords."

"I think you need a break, First Ranalla," said Impa with a little smile. "Let us continue tomorrow. I'll go to Rast in the afternoon. He is just teaching me to fight with two swords."

"When I saw you fighting two days ago, I did not have the impression that he could still teach you anything, Impa," Ranalla said. "At sixteen, you are the best sword fighter of the community, and you already defeated all the other fighters in the village. Even Rast could probably still learn a lot from you."

"Oh no, First Ranalla," said Impa, embarrassed. "Maybe he is not as fast as I am anymore, for he is already six hundred and seventeen years old. But he has over six hundred years of experience fighting with all kinds of fencing weapons, and I want to learn from him as much as I can. And when he has taught me everything he knows, I will write a book. I already have a title: _Arut ill Siverdis, The Art of the Sword._ How does that sound, hmm?"

Ranalla smiled and felt the pain in her arm slowly fade. She would get a bruise, and Impa would have to heal the sore tissue with her magic once again...

"You will need to have it translated," said Ranalla, lovingly stroking Impa's cheek, "At least, if you want the members of the other tribes to read it. I am sure that the sword-masters of the King of Hyrule – and even the Gerudo Sisters – would pay a fortune for a book that contains Rast's experiences. He has fought in five wars, and for three hundred years he was the examiner of the Elite Fighters at the royal court of Hyrule, before he became a teacher. I believe he is a legend among the Hylians. It is a true privilege to be trained by him."

"I know, First Ranalla," said Impa. "Thank you for putting in a good word for me with him. He is a very good teacher, although I sometimes have the impression..." Impa trailed off and lowered her gaze with sadness.

"Yes?" asked Ranalla cautiously.

"That he would rather have a male student!" Impa burst out gloomily.

A shiver ran through Ranalla's body as she remembered the horrible incident two years before. Impa and her half-brother Ghirahim had sneaked up to the hidden meadow, which lay outside the camouflage barrier. The Daemon had sensed them and had sent his servants, who had abducted Ghirahim and severely injured Impa. The Elder Sunyar and the other powerful magicians had healed Impa's injuries, but Ranalla knew that the young girl would probably never completely overcome her painful loss.

With a twinge of guilt, she tried to come up with a consoling answer for Impa, as the light suddenly changed. At first, she thought a cloud had shifted before the sun and looked casually up to the sky bounded by the high, rugged crater walls.

And then she saw it.

Thin purple vines were creeping up from the edge of the crater and moved, wriggling, across the fine blue barrier that lay like a dome above the village.

"What is that?" Impa asked beside her.

At that moment, Ranalla felt a sharp sting and pressed her hand to her chest in pain. Impa gasped for air and sank to her knees. Ranalla leaned towards her and wanted to help her get up, but Impa clasped her fingers into Ranalla's arm.

"My... magic..." she groaned. "I know... this... feeling! Somebody... ties... it..."

"Ties it?" Ranalla asked in astonishment.

The light darkened, and she looked up again. The purple tendrils had met at the highest point of the magical barrier, and a giant, purple stain spread over the dome from above, flowing slowly downwards.

"This is the Daemon's work!" Ranalla heard a voice behind her. Strong arms grabbed her and dragged her to her feet. "Come, First. Come, Impa, my child," said Rast. "We must hide, the enemies have penetrated."

"What enemies?" Ranalla asked as they ran from the exercise area to the back entrance of the school building.

"They just crawled out of the ground," Rast gasped, and Ranalla saw the horror in his old purple eyes. "Armored Dinolfos and others. The barrier has been infested with dark magic, and our magic is tied. I have experienced this before. We must get to safety."

"I'll get the ocarina," said Ranalla. "We can..."

"No, no," Rast said, shaking his head. "Its magic does not work under the dome, and they have blocked the ascent to the stairs with a barrier. Find a hiding place, First. I have to get the children out of the gym!"

He pressed Ranalla's shoulder quickly, and her hand found Impa's hand as they reached the building. Ranalla hastily opened the door and pulled Impa inside, then they ran up the stairs to Ranalla's study. Ranalla let go of Impa's hand and rushed to the cabinet in the corner. She pulled the doors open and fetched the large, red book from the upper compartment. _The Hidden Chronicles_ could be read in golden, embossed writing on its cover, and for a moment, she wondered if she should take it along. It was the sacred book of the Guardians and contained the most important information for their training, but Ranalla knew it would only hinder her flight. Quickly, she pushed the book into the compartment underneath, stood on her toes, and reached far back through the free space in the upper compartment. At last, she found what she was looking for, and took out the small bag of black velvet. With golden threads, the sign of the Triforce was embroidered on it, and a thin, blue ribbon looked out of it. Ranalla put the ribbon around her neck, opened the top closure of her combat suit, and put the bag inside at her neck so it would not swing against her chest.

"Maybe there's still an escape route," she said, turning to Impa. "When we're out, we can use the ocarina."

"But what about the others?" Impa asked.

"We will try to save as many as possible, but first we must get over to Satih's house. Come!"

She grabbed Impa's hand again and wanted to open the door, but a violent thunderbolt ripped through the air, and the glass of the windows flew into the room in a thousand splinters. They ducked, and Ranalla heard the splinters rattling against the wall and falling to the ground. Another dead bang made the house tremble, and with a loud crash, the roof flew away above their heads. Tiles and bricks fell on the floor, and Ranalla opened the door and dragged Impa down the stairs.

She thought feverishly which way would take them quickest to Satih's house, and decided to take the back exit again. Outside, on the exercise field, lay the debris of the roof, and the purple shimmering sky covered everything with a terrible, ghostly light. Ranalla dared not run through the village, and the detour along the wall of the crater would probably take longer, but there were no houses there, and no roofs that could fall down.

Impa's hand was tight in hers, and they both ran through the garden behind the practice field, until they reached the narrow walk behind the bushes. Along the black frozen lava of the crater wall they fled from devastation. When they were about halfway around, another thunder bang sounded, followed by a terrible hiss, and the light changed again. Ranalla looked up and saw a reddish glow that mingled with the violet light of the barrier, and horror gripped her. She tried to peek through the leaves, but she felt a hot wind in her face as the bushes burst into flames before her.

Impa screamed, but Ranalla dragged her along. Their path was only one step wide, and Ranalla pulled her headscarf out of her pocket and held it to her nose to filter the hot air rising from the burning bushes beside them.

"Down!" Impa gasped behind her, and Ranalla felt Impa's hand pull her to the ground. Gratefully, she bent down and let go of Impa's hand. On their hands and feet they crawled farther, past the flames, until the burning bushes finally stopped and the old walls of Satih's house appeared beside them. Here, too, the roof was gone, and there were several holes in the wall, as if cannon balls had hit it. The metal door leading from the path into the house was hot from the fire, and Ranalla used her scarf to move the latch and open the door.

Inside, there was a horrific sight. The other door, which led out into the village, had been torn from its hinges, and its debris lay scattered between the furniture on the floor. In the opposite wall, a huge boulder had struck a large hole. It had smashed the table in the middle of the room and lay like a massive pedestal over the opening to the secret tunnel that led to a lower section of the staircase. Without their magic, they could not move the rock by an inch. Their escape route was blocked.

Ranalla felt stunned. Who had done this? It must have been someone who knew the village well, who even knew about this secret escape route.

But who?

"Ghirahim!" she heard Impa's voice beside her.

"What..." Ranalla stammered.

She looked at Impa, who was standing beside her with wide eyes and trembling lips. Anxiously, she followed Impa's gaze through the empty door opening.

2

She grabbed Impa's arm and dragged her away from the door frame. Impa sank to the ground and crouched down beside the wall, whimpering softly. Ranalla pressed against the wall next to the door opening and peered out through a narrow gap between the bricks.

The houses in the vicinity had been razed to the ground, and a huge debris field covered the area around the village center. Between the ruins she saw the corpses of the people who had lived in the houses, and there, in the village square...

Trembling, she turned around and leaned in horror against the hot wall, for her legs wanted to give way.

"Ghirahim..." Impa sobbed, and Ranalla sank to her knees and put her arms around her.

"He is no longer Ghirahim, Impa," she said. "The Daemon has changed him, you must not let him influence you."

"I must go to him..." whimpered Impa, trying to wriggle out of Ranalla's embrace. "I must stop him. He will listen to me..."

"No, Impa," said Ranalla, trying to let her voice sound resolute despite her fright. "He killed them all! The Dinolfos drag them out of their houses and bring them to him, and he just..."

"But why, First Ranalla?" Impa asked, looking at Ranalla with horror in her eyes. "What have we done to him?"

Ranalla shuddered as the burden of guilt fell upon her mind like a brutal weight.

.

She had done it.

That morning, two years ago, she had gone through the Creation History of the Treasure with the older students, the most important subject in the entire training of the Guardians. No one could be absent from this lesson without excuse, and she had emphasized to the two siblings the evening before that she would not tolerate any delay.

But they had not come.

After they had been missing from class all morning, Ranalla had gone to search for them at noon. In the windy bell tower of the school building she had finally found them leaning against the railing in a tight embrace, kissing obliviously. Ranalla had watched them for a while, perplexed, and Impa, who had looked around anxiously as they parted, had finally noticed her. Frightened, she had clung to Ghirahim, but he had just looked at Ranalla with a scornful smile, throwing his white hair out of his face while he put his arm protectively around Impa.

"Don't be afraid, my love," he had said tenderly to Impa. "She cannot do anything to us. We are much stronger than her, despite the barrier."

Angrily, Ranalla had descended the steep wooden steps of the bell tower and had gone to Elder Sunyar. The magic of the half-siblings was so strong that the aura of the _Bonding_ built up even when they just kissed, and full of pain, Ranalla had seen the remains of the blue field surrounding their entangled bodies. She had given the order, and Sunyar had taken the magical fetters from the drawer of his desk and had gone to find the two sword instructors, who were the strongest magicians of the community after him. Nevertheless, Ghirahim had almost stunned the three of them with his whirls before they had overpowered him and Impa and put them in the shackles.

The bands had bound their magic for a day, and they could not even use it for the smallest task. On her way home, Ranalla had passed the bench under the big lime tree in the courtyard of the school, where Ghirahim and Impa were sitting, desperately holding hands. Ghirahim had cast a harsh, hateful look at Ranalla, and Impa's tears had been running down her cheeks as she longingly clung to her brother without feeling him.

Ranalla had tried to persuade herself that she had been forced to do it, that she had been compelled to make an example. That she had not acted only out of anger, because Ghirahim had simply ignored her instructions. She had tried to believe that she had acted solely out of concern for the two children, and not out of envy, because they had performed the _Bonding_ at fourteen and were experiencing heaven on earth with every kiss, while she herself had never...

Then the Daemon had abducted Ghirahim, and again, she had tried to convince herself that she had never felt the slightest touch of satisfaction about his disappearance. At last, no one questioned her authority anymore, and after her recovery, Impa had even clung to Ranalla and had become her friend, although Ranalla had punished her back then.

And now, that proud, insane young mage out there was killing her people, and Ranalla knew that she herself was to blame for this disaster.

.

She shook her head and looked wistfully into Impa's questioning eyes that were waiting for an answer.

"You did not do anything to him, my darling," she said. "But I did. Just like the other Guardians of Time, who disturbed his happiness with you, when you both wanted nothing else than to be together. The Daemon took advantage of his feelings and made him a merciless enemy. He will not spare you, Impa, for the Daemon has _smoothed_ him, and there is no more love in his soul."

3

As she looked through the crack again, she knew it was over. The barrier that should protect the Chosen People of the Goddess from the eyes of the Daemon had become a prison, and there was smoke and fire everywhere. Only a few were still alive, but they would not make it. The enemy had defeated them with their own knowledge, with their own power, and they had no chance.

Ranalla saw him walk over the ruins of the devastated village, his face gray, and his once bright purple eyes deep in their dark sockets. Only his white hair was still like in her memory, and he still flung it out of his face cockily when it fell over his eyes. As he looked searchingly over the burning houses, he sent dark whirls over the figures of the last Guardians of Time. Their magic being bound and useless, they all fell; and Ghirahim, the servant of the Daemon, rejoiced in his power.

Despite her tied magic, she could feel him sending his mighty magic to search, and it crawled like an army of thin, greedy snakes into every crack of the village. She felt an icy twinge as the snakes reached her, and she knew the enemy had found them. Impa also seemed to feel it, for her hand in Ranalla's hand trembled.

Ranalla had no comfort for her. The proud, highly magically gifted boy, who had once been Impa's brother and companion, had turned into the mighty, cold Prince of Darkness, who knew no mercy. What would have happened if she had not given the order? If she had not burdened herself with this guilt out of envy and anger? Was it the punishment of the Goddess that she herself would now die without ever having known the love of a man?

Through the crack in the wall, she watched as the enemy slowly approached the ruins where they were hiding, and thought feverishly again. She would accept the fate that the Goddess had intended for her. But Impa...

Impa was innocent!

She turned and looked through the hole in the other wall, where she could see the rocks. After Ghirahim's abduction, Sunyar and the other strong magicians had expanded the camouflage barrier, including the hidden meadow. Because of her weak magic, Ranalla had not been able to help, but she had watched, and she had noticed something...

It was a desperate hope, a madness that could mean death all the more. But if Ghirahim just wanted to tie their magic, the barrier could still be penetrated, if one could just reach it somehow. The walls of the crater were steep and could not be climbed without magic. The path to the hidden meadow was also steep and troublesome, and the enemy would quickly discover them if they both went. But perhaps there was a way to save at least one of them.

If he believed that she was alone...

"Here, Impa," Ranalla whispered, pulling the blue ribbon of the ocarina over her head. "Take the ocarina and run up to the meadow. The crater wall is too steep, but you can climb on the highest rock in the middle, it is almost as high. From there, make a somersault through the barrier. When you are outside, call your magic instantly and slow your fall. Play the Prelude of Light while you are falling, and it will take you to the Temple of Time. Go to the court of King Nohansen of Hyrule. He will take you in if you show him the ocarina."

"I will not leave you, First Ranalla," said Impa, sobbing and clinging to her.

"It's over, my darling," said Ranalla. "Go, I'll distract him so you can get through. Hurry! Hylia be with you!"

Impa took the blue ocarina, the Divine Artifact given to the Sheikah people, and released Ranalla's hand. Through the hole in the wall behind them, she crawled out into the open, then Ranalla saw her disappear behind the rocks in the steep hollow path that led to the hidden meadow. Her gaze returned to Ghirahim, who had almost reached the house. Again and again, he sent his dark whirls to all sides, destroying what had not yet fallen to the ground.

Ranalla stepped out through the empty doorway to face him.

"Ghirahim!" she called.

"Well, well," he said with a mocking grin. "The First of the Sheikah is the last one left. Look, I have strengthened the barrier and tied the mighty magic of the great Guardians, as they did at your command with me. Because your magic was always too weak to do it yourself, am I right?"

"What has he done to you?" Ranalla said sadly, shaking her head with regret.

"He has made me powerful, Ranalla!" he shouted, and his magically amplified voice echoed from the high crater walls surrounding the village. "He has made me beautiful, and strong, and immortal!"

"And what did he want from you in return? Your soul, Ghirahim? Your memories? Your innocence?"

He laughed and hurled a dark whirl at her. "Be quiet, Ranalla!" he barked. "I will destroy you!"

Ranalla knew he would, because she had nothing left to set against him. She only wanted to get a little more time for Impa so she could flee. If she was to live at the king's court, she would have to learn Hylian first...

She wanted to throw herself to the side to escape his dark magic, but her heel froze to ice. Her stomach cramped as cold pain raged through her body like a hundredfold branched lightning, and the world disappeared before her eyes. She stiffened in the middle of her movement, and like a wind, her soul fled from her body, as Ghirahim fulfilled his promise.

4

The creation of the Treasure

.

Excerpt from the _Hidden Chronicles,_

the Sacred Book of the Guardians of Time

.

 _In the beginning, the universe was beautiful._

 _It was straight and even, and a gentle light lay over its entire surface. Quietly, he rolled around and enjoyed its beauty. He was content with it, and proud of himself, that he had done so well._

 _But then_ she _came._

 _Everywhere she went, she brought disturbances into his universe. It wrinkled and formed tiny folds and knots, and where the folds were, the light changed, becoming bright and dark. Quickly, he began to smooth the folds and untangle the knots to make the light uniform again._

 _But after a while, he found new traces. They were small and barely perceptible, but they annoyed him, and he decided to do something. He looked for her figure and smoothed her trace, until he reached her._

 _"Why are you here?" he asked. "I do not need you."_

 _"I am here because I want to give you joy," she said. "Because I need you."_

 _"In the beginning, when my universe was not yet permeated by your disturbances, I had joy," he said. "You take my joy away. How can you give me joy?"_

 _"My joy is a different joy," she said. "Your joy was the joy of sameness, of endlessness, of eternity. But my joy is the joy of attraction, of novelty, of development."_

 _As she spoke, she was getting closer, and delicate whirls formed in his universe around him. Then he noticed that even the smoothness of his own body changed and tried to adapt to her forms. He was frightened and wanted to move away, but she cut off his way with deep wrinkles and tight knots he could not overcome. Anxiously, he looked for a way out, but she had cornered him. His surface deformed more and more the closer she came to him..._

 _And then she touched him._

 _Never before had he been touched. She flowed over his body, filling out all the wrinkles that had formed from her approach. But while he was exploring the new sensations on his surface, the steady, calm substance of his body began to move. Currents formed inside him, whirling around each other, vibrating and pulsating, and he became curious. He realized that he liked the change, and that he wanted... more._

 _"Give me..." he heard her soft voice, and he felt his substance close around a knot that had formed in his core._

 _"Give me..." she whispered again. "Give me... the Treasure..."_

 _Fine whirls penetrated his matter and reached out for the knot, and their touch aroused his desire to give her what she wanted. Eagerly, he let his own whirls circle and work to bring his knot to her. He realized that she had prepared a place inside herself, and he tried to reach it, he wanted..._

 _"Give me the Treasure," came her urgent voice, and he was almost there! Carefully, he let that part of his body containing the knot enter her body._

 _"I give you the Treasure," he said, and put the knot into the cave she had prepared. And then her substance absorbed him and merged with him, and he sank into a mighty sensation that made him tremble with awe._

 _._

 _When he awoke and looked around, his universe was gone. The smoothness had been replaced by whirls, folds and knots, and there was nothing left of the gentle light._

 _In the distance he saw two figures moving through the foreign universe. One was tall, and he knew it. The other was smaller, and he did not know it. It resembled the tall figure in a certain way, but it was different._

 _He wanted to join them, but he could not move through this new universe. He tried to smooth the surface so that he could roll, but the folds were so deep that he could barely move. Looking into the distance, he saw that the two figures were already in another place._

 _Should he change direction?_

 _When he had cleaned a small area around himself, he arbitrarily chose a direction and began to smooth a path. After he had come a little way, he saw the two figures approaching. He followed their path and realized that they would cross the way he had just smoothed. Quickly, he calculated the point where they would pass, and rolled there. As they came closer, he spoke to them. The small figure came first._

 _"Who are you?" he asked._

 _"I am the Treasure," said the figure._

 _"Why are you here?" he asked._

 _"I was born out of Order and Chaos, and I am here to maintain the balance."_

 _"What have you done to my universe?"_

 _"We gave it a shape."_

 _"But I cannot move around in this universe. I need to smooth it so I can roll."_

 _"If you do that, you will destroy our universe. We will change it back."_

 _"It was my universe before. Everything was all right before... you came."_

 _"Now it is ours. We need a universe with shapes."_

 _"I will smooth it again."_

 _"Then you must do that. But we will change it again, as that is our way."_

 _Then the figure moved on, drawing a trace of wrinkles and swirls over the path he had just smoothed._

 _He felt his core change again, but this time it was different. It did not flow gently and slowly like before, but it raged and twitched, and he was confused. He felt the urge to destroy those two figures that disturbed his universe._

 _There had to be a way to... smooth... them..._


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

1

"What would he want here?"

Laira leaned, frowning, onto her spear, looking at the soldier who dismounted in front of the bridge.

"Perhaps he wants to be chosen?" Sirla asked, who was standing with her spear beside Laira, and was also looking at the newcomer.

"He seems to be an Elite Soldier. Don't you want to take a look at him, Sister Sirla?" Laira said, pointing with her chin to the end of the bridge, where the soldier approached the other two guards who were posted there.

Sirla shook her head.

"You know whom I want, Laira. I just have to wait nine more months until my birthday, then finally the time has come."

She closed her eyes and sighed, and Laira chuckled.

"You talked to Blir again, didn't you?" she asked with a mischievous smile, and raised her eyebrows suggestively.

Sirla growled and looked away.

"I want to know what to expect," she said.

"I have only one night, and I want it to be the most beautiful of my life."

"Take care not to place too much hope in that, Sister," Laira said. "How do you know if everything is true that Blir tells you? It's been nine years, hasn't it? Lenori was already eight last month, just like the other two."

"I know it's true," Sirla countered. "I've asked not only Blir, but also Letria and the others, and they all say the same. He was tender, but also strong, and he..."

She broke off, for the soldier bowed to the Sisters at the end of the bridge and descended the steps.

"Why do they let him through?" Laira asked. "Weri is there in the front, and she speaks Hylian. What shall we do with him?"

Sirla shrugged and looked at the soldier.

He was wearing the blue tunic with the silver ornaments that identified him as an Elite Soldier of the Royal Army of Hyrule. As he approached, she noticed that he was tall and had a beautiful, friendly face. His dark hair was short, and his blue eyes were glowing in the bright light of the desert afternoon. For a brief moment, she compared him with the man whom she was longing for since she was fourteen years old, and found that he could stand the comparison perfectly. Besides, he was younger...

What if the _Viss_ hit her again? Would he agree?

The man had reached them, and Sirla noticed that Laira was looking at him intently. She already had a daughter, but maybe...

"Greet the face of the sun, Sisters," the man said to them in Gerudo, and Sirla gasped in astonishment.

"My name is Daniel Pierce, and I have a message for His Majesty, King Ganondorf Dragmire. Your Sisters there... allowed me... to come to you..."

He broke off as if he were looking for words that did not come to him.

"We can give him the message if you tell it to us," Laira said.

"I'm afraid this is not possible," said the soldier. "I... can only give it to His Majesty himself."

Laira snorted.

"The king is not in the Fortress, Sir," she said. "We need to get him first, and that may take a while."

"I will be glad to wait for His Majesty," said the soldier. "Could you arrange that he will be called?"

Laira nodded.

"Do you want to stay with your horse in the meantime?"

"Thank you," said the soldier Daniel Pierce, then he turned around and walked back across the bridge.

"I'll go," Sirla said, when the soldier was out of earshot, and gave Laira her spear.

The prospect of seeing him was very tempting...

"You cannot ride through the Wasteland, Sirla," Laira said. "We'll use the signal and Letria must go. You know that only she is allowed to use the blood."

"I'll go to Letria," Sirla said. "I'll ask her to let _me_ ride."

"If you mean..." Laira murmured, and Sirla set off. "But I can tell you now that Letria will not abuse his trust," she heard Laira's voice behind her.

She ran quickly across the other side of the bridge and through the barrier that the King had created a few years ago because men had invaded the Fortress, hoping to be chosen. None of them was worth starting a test fight with; all of the Sisters had known that at first sight. Men who could be chosen were rare, and those men were often surprised themselves when it happened.

When Sirla came to Letria's room, she called her name softly:

"Sister Letria!"

"Come in, Sirla," came the reply from Letria.

Sirla walked through the angled entrance into Letria's room and found her busy with a book at her desk.

"Greet the face of the sun, Sirla," she said kindly.

Sirla always felt a little intimidated in her presence, just like in the presence of the other Sisters who already had a daughter with him.

Only nine months left...

"There is a messenger at the bridge, Sister Letria," she said. "He would like to speak to the king personally. We need to get him."

"What kind of messenger?" asked Letria. "Does he bring bad news?"

"I do not think so," Sirla replied. "He looks very nice, and he's wearing the uniform of the Elite Soldiers. He spoke Gerudo and said that his name was Daniel Pierce. Can I get the King, Letria?"

Letria looked at her with a loving smile.

"You cannot wait, my sweetie, am I right?" she said. "I would love to let you ride, but his orders were clear."

Sirla snorted, frustrated, looking at the little container that shimmered in a gentle, blue light on Letria's dresser. His blood was in there, and it could guide her through the Wasteland and the burning barrier...

"If you ride and he finds out that it was not an emergency, he will be angry, Sirla. Do you want to make him angry? You have waited so long, so do not spoil your chance!"

"I see him so rarely..." Sirla said softly, "... and I..."

Letria came to her and embraced her.

"I know, my sweetie," she said tenderly. "I'll tell you something. I'll ride quickly to the Temple and get him, then you may lead him to Daniel Pierce. Agreed?"

"But if he brings Risha and the others..."

"They are his bodyguards, Sirla. But maybe he stays for dinner, then you can ask Risha to let you prepare his food. What do you think?"

"All right," Sirla said sullenly. "Maybe he wants to spar later..."

2

About an hour later, the gate to the desert was raised, and the King rode into the courtyard of the Fortress with Letria and the Sister who was his deputy, Nabooru, but without his guards.

Sirla awaited him at the gate and hurried to meet him.

"Greet the face of the sun, Sirla," the King said to her with a little smile that took her breath away.

She had known him all her life, and at the age of eight she had sworn to herself in her childish innocence that he would be her first man. He had been fifteen at that time, and his body had outgrown its childish shapes, and new, masculine features had developed in his face. Although his fate as a male Gerudo was to become the king of his people, he trained her and the other girls in sword fighting, riding, and archery. Even after he had been crowned at the age of sixteen, he had continued his lessons, and every time he had touched her, she had become almost dizzy with longing.

So many times had he struck her swords out of her hands, so often had he hit her in the sparring fights! And she had always volunteered when he wanted to show the girls a figure or a feint, just so she could be near him and feel his hands on her skin when he threw her into the sand... And the day he had told her that he wanted to propose her for the Elite, although she was only fourteen, she had been stunned from happiness. Full of joy, she had embraced him, and then horror had befallen her, for she had felt the _Viss_ pour into her body. Hastily, she had broke away from him and had fled to her room, where Laira had found her in the evening, perturbed and overwhelmed by tears. Laira had persisted until Sirla had told her what had happened, and Laira had told Rista, and she, in turn, had told Weri... At some point, Letria had learned, and then _he_ knew it too.

For seven years she had been living with the _Viss_ now _,_ and every time she saw him she was consumed with longing for him. Too late had she realized that he would no longer train her when she belonged to the Elite, because he had made her his successor. She consoled herself with the thought that she had now taken over his task, and she did everything he did, eagerly emulated him, and was overjoyed when he praised her work.

And now there were only nine months left until the night she had been awaiting for seven years.

"You too, Your Majesty," she said, bowing to him.

His deputy Nabooru also came and greeted Sirla, then addressed the King.

"You can just go ahead to the bridge," she said to him, walking toward the Fortress. "I'll get Tirin, and we can follow later."

"Shall we go together, then, Sirla?" he asked, after Nabooru had left.

Sirla looked around and found to her surprise that they were alone, because Letria had also gone. Did he want to go alone with her, all the way to the bridge?

"Yes, Your Majesty," she said, and forced herself to take her eyes off his face and watch where her feet were stepping, for she was mesmerized by his closeness.

"How is the girls' training going?" He asked, as they made their way through the hollow path to the Valley.

"It's going well, Your Majesty," she replied. "Aryl is doing very well, and in two or three years she will be ready, I should say. The others are also making good progress. We could send them to a tournament. Maybe to Labrynna. What do you think?"

"You may decide, Sirla," he said. "I would send them to Hyrule Castle from time to time, if it wasn't so far away."

"What about you, Your Majesty?" she asked, looking curiously at him. "Would you not like to go to the tournament in Hyrule? Some older Sisters have already been there, and they were quite enthusiastic. The tournaments offer the best opportunities to find suitable candidates."

He smiled.

"Do I hear a hidden wish, Sirla?" he teased, and Sirla was startled. Did he have the impression that she wanted to go there? That she wanted a man? _Another_ man?

"No, Your Majesty, I..." she stammered and swallowed.

Why did he say such things?

"Forgive me," he said, touching her arm with his hand.

Sirla shuddered when she felt him, and she would have liked to take his hand and kiss him there on the spot without fighting, without waiting...

A thousand times had she closed her eyes in the evening in her bed and had kissed the back of her hand, imagining that it was his lips. She had wrapped her arms around her body and imagined she was in his arms, and every time her moon circle was over and her body was waiting for its fulfillment, she thought of him and could not concentrate on her work. Sometimes she even dared a quick, stealthy thought of the idea of always having him, every night, every day, that he belonged to her, forever...

But she must be patient.

She walked silently beside him until they reached the valley. The royal messenger was sitting on the stairs beyond the ravine, talking with the two guards who were posted there. When he saw the King, he stood up and withdrew.

Sirla walked with the King through the barrier and descended the stairs to the bridge. During the day only four Sisters were guarding the bridge. The two guards for the end of the bridge that led to the Fortress would not come until sunset, when the others would be relieved.

Laira stood at her post in the middle of the bridge, waiting for Sirla.

"May I come with you, Your Majesty?" Sirla ventured to ask. She wanted to hear what the courier had to say.

"Aren't you are on watch service?" he asked, looking at her.

"Yes, but I..." she stammered.

"Oh, it's all right, Your Majesty," Laira said. "Sirla is curious."

She winked at Sirla and the King chuckled.

"All right," he said. "He is an Elite Soldier, after all, isn't he?"

He, too, winked at Sirla, but she was annoyed. Since he knew that she was under the influence of the _Viss_ , he teased her at every opportunity. Sometimes she was so angry with him that she did not know if she should rather attack him with her sword or hit him with her fists. But she knew she had no chance against him. He would simply throw her into the sand, as he had done a thousand times.

Together, they went on until they reached the end of the bridge. The two guards bowed and the King nodded to them. The soldier approached, gave a slight bow, and gave the King his hand.

"Greetings, Your Majesty," he said in Gerudo. "Thank you for coming."

"You are Daniel Pierce?" the King asked, pressing the soldier's hand.

"Yes, Your Majesty," replied the soldier. "Do you know my name?"

"Of course," said the King, smiling. "My deputy Nabooru has told me a lot about you."

"Oh," said the soldier, smiling.

"My guard," the King spoke again, pointing at Sirla, "said you had a personal message for me."

"Yes, Your Majesty," said the soldier, nodding.

He reached into a pocket of his tunic, pulling out a letter which he gave to the King.

"This is a letter from Mistress Impa of the Sheikah, Your Majesty. I have the mandate to solicit your answer and to deliver it, verbally or in writing, as you wish."

"From Mistress Impa?" Ganondorf asked in amazement.

"Yes, Your Majesty," replied the soldier. "As a member of the Royal Family, she was entrusted by the late King Regar Nohansen with the task of carrying out his last will. But please, read for yourself."

The King looked at the royal seal on the letter before breaking it and unfolding the solid parchment. An odd disturbance seized Sirla as she watched him read the letter. His eyebrows rose in astonishment and surprise, and then a happy smile appeared on his face. When he had finished, he folded the letter again with a deep breath.

"Mister Pierce," he said to the soldier. "Please let Madam Impa know that I feel honored and will gladly follow her invitation. But I am also somewhat surprised. Why are personal invitations sent out this time?"

"King Regar arranged it this way in his will, Your Majesty. He wanted the leaders of all the tribes of Hyrule to be invited personally to this year's tournament. Madam Impa chose me to bring this invitation to you, because I speak a little Gerudo, thanks to Sister Nabooru."

At that moment, Sirla heard footsteps approaching over the creaking planks of the bridge. She turned around and saw Nabooru with her little daughter Tirin, who was hopping joyfully at her hand.

"Thank you, Your Majesty," the soldier said happily to the King, when he saw Nabooru. "I would never have dared to ask you..."

"It's all right, Mister Pierce. I'll probably see you at the tournament, won't I? I will send a Sister with some provisions for your return journey. Goodbye, Mister Pierce."

With a gesture he told Sirla to come, and she hurried to obey.

Nabooru and Tirin had now also ascended the steps, and while Sirla returned with the King, she saw Nabooru fling her arms around the neck of the soldier and kiss him impulsively. Then the soldier took her little daughter in his arms and pressed her to his chest.

Sirla's gaze fell upon the letter that the King was still holding in his hand. It came from a woman named Impa and apparently held an invitation to the tournament on the occasion of the examinations of the Elite Fighters, which took place every year in autumn.

Many Sisters had been in the capital at the time of the tournament and had chosen a royal Elite Soldier. Through them, Sirla had heard of Mistress Impa, who at the tournament took the examinations of the Elite Fighters. Impa was the last survivor of the legendary Sheikah people, she was considered the best sword fighter of Hyrule – and she was magically gifted.

She was unique.

A Ren-Bird, like _him._

Sirla thought with a touch of jealousy, how pleased he had been with the invitation. Was it the joy over the invitation itself, that she had seen in his eyes, or the joy that the invitation came from Impa? The Sisters had reported that Impa was very beautiful...

And there were only two months left until the tournament.

 _Could it be possible that..._

Sirla bit a gasp when the realization hit her, and she forced herself not to stare at the King, who was walking beside her.

Was it possible that he _chose_ this woman who was at the same time beautiful, a good fighter, and magically gifted? That he made her his queen _before_ Sirla was twenty-two and could conceive her daughter from him?

The idea was so painful, so excruciating and agonizing, that she nearly felt sick. She stopped and held onto the railing of the bridge because her gaze was swaying and she had to close her eyes.

"Is everything all right?" the King asked, resting his hand on her back. His touch made her shudder again, and his hand was burning on the portion of her skin that the short top of her desert garb left uncovered. For seven years she had experienced this feeling every year on the Day of the Sun, when she danced the sword dance with him. She had earned that privilege, for she was the only Sister to master the complicated movements that the dance with a male Gerudo required. During the dance she could take his hand and lean against his body, and with the wild twists she came so close to him that their lips almost touched.

"Yes, Your Majesty," she said in a trembling voice. "I will resume my service now. Thank you for allowing me to accompany you."

She straightened up, went to Laira, and took her spear. Then she stood on her place and watched the king depart with his letter, climb the steps on the other side of the bridge, and step through his magical barrier.

She was bound to him by the _Viss,_ and she would not let another woman take him away from her. If he brought Impa with him, Sirla would have to kill her.

3

 _It was cold in Hyrule._

 _He could not understand why they let the tournament take place at this time of the year. After the warm sunshine of the first day, the weather had cooled down suddenly during the night, and thick rain clouds were throwing their gloomy shadows on the large arena that had been built for the fights of the Elite Soldiers._

 _The fighting had begun at dawn, but he had not seen the sun in the gray sky. He had been glad that he had taken his cloak, because in the course of the morning, several cold drops had fallen on his face, as if to remind him that he was not at home._

 _Two months ago, Letria had come to the Temple to get him with the blood he had left the Sisters in the Fortress for emergencies. Sirla had been waiting for him at the gate, and like every time since that day seven years ago, he had seen the_ Viss _in her eyes. Like all Gerudo Sisters, she was very beautiful and one of the best fighters of his people, and in seven months she would choose him, but he knew she could not give him what he was longing for._

 _He had therefore been pleased when he had read the personal invitation with the request for an immediate response that Daniel Pierce had brought to the Fortress. At last, he would have the opportunity to travel to Hyrule Castle and see the two people whom he had long been interested in: King Daphnis Nohansen of Hyrule and Impa, the last of the Sheikah._

 _It was only through the mission of his deputy Nabooru four years before that he had learned about Impa, and since then he had prepared for his own mission. He had learned Hylian, read books on the history of Hyrule and its Royal Family, and collected all the information he could find about Impa._

 _It was said that over two hundred years ago she had appeared in the castle with nothing but the clothes on her body, and had been taken in immediately by the King of that time. Since then, she had served five kings of the Nohansen family as an instructor in sword combat, and the third King in succession as a member of the High Council of Hyrule._

 _As the last survivor of her legendary people, Impa was the only person in the world who spoke Sheikah, and she was magically gifted, as he was. Could she be the Ren-Bird he had been searching for all his life?_

 _He had already met the King on the first day of the tournament. Up to a friendly stalemate he had fought against him, and although Nabooru had prepared him for the sight of the King, he had not lost the feeling of fighting against his own mirror reflection._

 _He had not seen Impa, however, so he had put all his hopes in the second day of the tournament. Despite the early hour, the ranks had already been fully occupied in the morning, but his status as a royal guest had given him a seat on the decorated tribune of the King. From there, he had watched the royal examiner in swordsmanship doing her merciless work. Her beauty and her impressive fighting skills had even made him forget the cold._

 _In a tight blue suit she had entered the arena, her white hair braided to a stern plait, and he had seen her win in eight hard fights against good men. All had passed, and the royal sword-master had shaken her hand respectfully when he had brought her the medals for the newly-approved Elite Fighters._

 _In the afternoon, there would be a competition in the fight with two swords, which held a special prize: a large two-handed sword, the favorite weapon of the late King Regar Nohansen. Immediately upon his arrival he had seen it in a display case in the entrance hall of the castle, and had decided to win it. Since he had given his large sword to that boy in Labrynna, only the smaller one had remained to him, and this sword promised to be a worthy substitute._

 _On the first day, he had eaten at a Castle Town inn that Nabooru had recommended to him, but on the second day, King Daphnis himself had invited him to lunch. Happily, he had realized that he could choose his own food from a rich supply, and that the kitchen had also prepared salads of raw fruit and vegetables beside the cooked dishes._

 _He would have liked to speak to Impa, who had been sitting quietly beside the King and had not participated in the conversation. He knew, however, that he could present his request only when they were undisturbed, and had therefore decided to wait until he could dance with her at the banquet in the evening._

 _Later, he had turned to Captain Pierce, the King's sword-master, to borrow a second sword from him to join the contest in the afternoon. Daniel Pierce, who was the son of the sword-master and the father of Nabooru's daughter, had offered him his own sword, and he had gratefully accepted it._

 _Now, in his dark desert suit under the warm cloak, he was walking with both swords in his hands over the path back to the arena, to try his luck. He had tied his hair because he did not want to risk it disturbing him in the fight that lay before him._

 _In spite of the cloak, an icy, humid wind cut into his limbs as he entered the arena through the gate in the grandstand. Captain Pierce had asked him to sit down on the bench next to his table with the other contestants, and to wait until he would be called. He looked at the bench, where the eight Elite Soldiers had been waiting for their examination, but there was only one man sitting there._

 _It was Daniel Pierce, the sword-master's son, on whose knees he saw two more swords in their sheaths. Hesitantly, he approached the bench and looked at the sword-master who was sitting at his table. On the table, in a richly ornamented sheath, lay the great sword of the King, that he had seen in the showcase on the day of his arrival._

 _Captain Pierce saw him coming, nodded to him, smiling, and pointed with his hand to the bench where his son was sitting. When he had taken his place, the sword-master rose, and the whispers of the audience stopped._

 _"Your Majesties, honored spectators," came his full voice, which had already announced the test candidates in the morning. "Before his death, King Regar Nohansen gave the order that the most capable fighters be invited to this tournament, and chose his sword for the prize of the contest in the fight with two swords. Today, we want to honor his wish and let the men compete, who have applied for the prize._

 _"The first candidate is His Majesty Ganondorf Dragmire, King of the Gerudo."_

 _He smiled delightedly when he heard that the sword-master pronounced his second name correctly, with the emphasis on the second syllable, and he silently thanked Nabooru for having taught Daniel Pierce her language. The sword-master gave him a sign and he stood up and bowed briefly._

 _"The second candidate," continued the sword master, "is my son Daniel Pierce, Elite Soldier of the Royal Army of Hyrule."_

 _Daniel took his swords in his hand, stood up, and bowed. Then he went to his father, gave him the sheaths of his swords, drew both swords, and stepped to the center of the arena._

 _Ganondorf also stood up, took off his cloak and did the same as Daniel Pierce, then went to the center of the arena and faced Daniel._

 _The audience became restless, and a movement at the entrance of the arena drew his attention. He turned his gaze and saw Impa, who came in his direction in her blue suit with the red eye on her chest – the sign of her lost people._

 _"This is a mere competition," the sword-master's voice rose above the muttering of the audience. "Therefore, Mistress Impa will provide all swords of the two opponents with a magical barrier, so that no one is hurt."_

 _Ganondorf became aware of Impa's magic as she approached him. Without a word, she stepped up to him, nodding to him, and he met her gaze for a long moment as she stroked over the blades of his swords with a slow, almost tender gesture. He looked into her red eyes, and in the light of the dull day they appeared to him deep and dark like a silent, blood-red sea. He felt her magic, restrained and composed, so gentle and graceful – and quite different from that of the ugly, old sisters – the only kind he had felt so far._

 _A fine, blue-glowing field of magical energy appeared on his swords, then Impa turned to Daniel and created a barrier on his swords as well. When she had finished, she climbed the steps to the royal tribune and sat down on the seat he had taken as a spectator in the morning. He followed her with his eyes until the sword-master drew his attention again._

 _"The barrier will prevent cuts and stab wounds," he explained, after Impa had settled. "The fight is considered won when one of the opponents is either completely disarmed, placed in a hopeless situation, or gives up. If the gentlemen are ready, may the fight begin."_

 _He stood quietly in the middle of the arena with his swords in his hands, trying to get an impression of his opponent. Nabooru had told him that the sword-master had found out about his son's talent very early and had trained him since his childhood._

 _Daniel was only twenty-three, but even Nabooru, who had always been Ganondorf's strongest sparring opponent, and could fight just as well with two swords as himself, had not been able to defeat Daniel during their test fight. Daniel was shorter than Ganondorf, and his body was slender and sinewy, but under the wide sleeves of the shirt that Daniel wore under the blue tunic of the Elite Soldiers, he could imagine strong muscles._

 _Daniel began to circle him a few paces away, watching him sharply. He first walked a few steps around Ganondorf, then back in the other direction, coming closer, until he attacked with a quick lunge. He struck from below and tried to hit Ganondorf's right hand, but Ganondorf backed away and slammed with his left hand._

 _Daniel parried, and while Ganondorf continued to strike at him, he ducked and weaved under the blows to get behind Ganondorf's back. Ganondorf turned quickly and tried to strike, but he found Daniel's sword pointing at his chest. He took another step back, went down with a drop step and attacked Daniel from below. Daniel was surprised, and Ganondorf hit him with a hard blow to his stomach._

 _The spectators gasped, and Ganondorf heard Daniel groan and saw his face twitch with pain. Impa's barrier obviously protected only from the wounds, but not from the pain._

 _Again, they circled each other._

 _Ganondorf did not want to give Daniel an opportunity to attack again, and this time he tried to hit Daniel's arms from above. But Daniel crossed his two blades, and Ganondorf was so amazed that he had to smile when he recognized the typical defense of the Gerudo._

 _"You are good, Mister Pierce," he said approvingly in Hylian, and retreated. He hoped that Daniel would grow careless by the praise and neglect his defense, so he hit again. But Daniel parried with his right sword and ducked again, holding the left sword behind his back._

 _As he passed Ganondorf, he struck his hip with the back sword, and this time Ganondorf cried out as he felt the searing pain. He wanted to strike in anger at Daniel, who was again behind him, but this time also the younger man twisted himself under the reach of Ganondorf's long arms, and the blows went into the void._

 _The boy was too fast._

 _He was smaller and lighter, and he knew all the tricks._

 _Ganondorf watched Daniel, who circled him with vigilant eyes, letting his two swords hiss through the air menacingly a few times. He made great strides, but then suddenly turned around and jumped at Ganondorf with a deep stab attack. Ganondorf parried and smacked Daniel's sword aside, then, with the other sword, he hit Daniel's arm from above. He hit his forearm and knew that he would have wounded him badly without Impa's barrier._

 _Daniel growled with pain and dropped the sword, but he whirled around, struck at Ganondorf with a wide, circular, horizontal stroke with his other hand, and hit him violently in his side. Ganondorf bent over in pain and heard Daniel pick up his sword._

 _The spectators had become quiet and seemed not to know to which of the two opponents they should give their sympathy._

 _Ganondorf thought feverishly._

 _What could he do?_

 _He had to strive to remain calm and not be guided by his anger. Daniel seemed to like to attack with deep blows, and he was very agile and always escaped Ganondorf's sphere of influence. But maybe one could catch him when he tried to get past, if one was close enough..._

 _He looked again at Daniel, who had retreated and was waiting for him with his sword raised. Ganondorf walked up to him and looked for an attack point. He jumped and hit Daniel's shoulder from above, but Daniel hopped to the side and the sword hit the ground with the whole force of the blow, and dug deep into the pounded earth._

 _Ganondorf tried to pull it out again, and Daniel took advantage of the moment and hit his arm with all his might. Ganondorf saw the blow come, and in that fraction of a moment he recognized his chance. He could not avoid Daniel's blow, but he could take advantage of the movement that brought Daniel close to him. When Daniel's sword met him, he cried with pain, but he had already dropped the other sword and grabbed Daniel's arm with his free hand. With a violent jolt, he tugged at the younger man's arm._

 _Daniel lost his balance, whirled around, and staggered._

 _Ganondorf gritted his teeth, let go of the stuck sword, and grabbed Daniel's other arm. Daniel had noticed that he had been overthrown, for he kicked around and struggled against Ganondorf's grip. His swords hissed dangerously close to Ganondorf's face, but with his long arms, Ganondorf could keep him at bay. He held Daniel's arms with the swords up and fettered him with his sheer size._

 _The spectators were silent, and he saw astonishment and bewilderment in the faces on the stands. In the meantime, Daniel Pierce had realized that he had been defeated, and stopped struggling. As Ganondorf held Daniel's arms, he looked at the table of the sword-master, who was also staring at him with wide eyes. He let his gaze wander farther up to the decorated tribune where Impa was sitting, and saw her smile. But when he met her gaze, she turned away and said something to the King._

 _"Will you let me go, Your Majesty?" he heard Daniel's voice. "You won, I give up. I believe you are even taller than King Regar was. Hopefully, his sword is not too small for you."_

 _Ganondorf laughed and dropped his arms along with those of Daniel Pierce. He leaned down and pulled his sword out of the ground, then picked up the other, which he had borrowed from Daniel Pierce._

 _"You defeated me with my own sword, Your Majesty," Daniel said, shaking his head._

 _Ganondorf took both swords in his left hand and gave him his right._

 _"No, Mister Pierce," he said. "Today I could only defeat you thanks to the size of my body. But regarding technique, you are by far the better man, and I raise my hat before you. My deputy Nabooru could not choose a better father for her daughter."_

 _Daniel smiled, and Ganondorf knew he had satisfied the vanity of the young man, for Daniel gave him his hand and bowed. Both went to the sword-master who was still standing speechless at his table and seemed not to know what was happening._

 _"Your son is a good fighter, Captain Pierce," said Ganondorf. "He gave me a hard time. You trained him very well."_

 _"But... you defeated him!" the sword-master stammered._

 _"Yes, Captain, I'm afraid I did," said Ganondorf. "But I have the impression that the audience cannot really believe it yet. Will you tell them?"_

 _4_

 _At the reception he had been obligated to give his warm black cloak along with his hard-earned sword to a servant, and immediately the cold air had surrounded him in the large entrance hall. For a brief moment, he had thought of warming the surrounding air with his magic, but the ballroom where the banquet was held was so crowded that he did not feel the cold so badly._

 _The Sisters had made him warm Hylian garments that fit his large body: dark trousers, a wide white shirt, and a richly embroidered red tunic from a heavy fabric of the same color as his hair._

 _As he was accustomed to doing everything himself, he had sent away the pretty maids who wanted to help him dress, as they claimed. After the hard fight against Daniel Pierce, he had washed himself in the small bathroom adjoining the room assigned to him in the palace, and then he had put on the new clothes._

 _Although he preferred to wear his hair loose, he had tied it with a clasp in his neck and had put on the narrow, sun-shaped headdress which all the kings of the Gerudo had to wear instead of a crown on official occasions. But he had left the heavy yellow gem in the silver frame that came with it, for he suspected that it would interfere with the dancing._

 _After paying his respects to the young King Daphnis Nohansen and laughing at the resemblance in their features, he could finally look for the presence that he had already encountered in the arena in the afternoon, and which he had noticed immediately as he entered the hall._

 _Her magic was so strong that he could feel it all over the ballroom. He looked around and tried to recognize the direction from which the sensation came to him. She was standing on the other side of the room and was talking to the Queen._

 _He wondered if he should approach her immediately or wait until the music started. Nabooru had taught him the Hylian dances and sung the melody, and he was glad he had sent her to Hyrule four years ago to get to know the royal court. She had come back pregnant, and with a new, great treasure of information about the land of Hyrule and its peoples._

 _He went to the tables with the food and drinks, but he only found cooked dishes that did not suit him. While he was looking among the bowls and trays for something he could eat, he suddenly felt the magic approaching. As he turned around, he saw Impa coming in his direction._

 _She stopped next to him and also looked at the food on the tables. She seemed to be looking for something she could not find, and frowned._

 _"Greetings, Mistress Impa," he said kindly, using her full title. She was tall, but still almost a head smaller than him, and although she had seemed angry a moment ago, she looked at him with a friendly, curious smile._

 _Her white hair was loosely pinned up, and some loose strands framed her face. On her head, she wore a narrow, silver circlet with a little ruby over her forehead, and her high-necked dress of dark blue velvet harmonized in a refined way with her bright complexion and her blood-red eyes. She was beautiful, and her voice sounded mellow and pure when she answered him._

 _"I greet you, Your Majesty. Is everything to your liking?"_

 _"To be honest, I was looking for fresh fruit, Madam," he replied._

 _"Oh, I'm afraid the fruit will not be served until later, Your Majesty," she said, slightly shaking her head. "The Hylians prefer to eat it as a dessert."_

 _"And you, Madam?" He asked._

 _"I do not, Your Majesty. I had asked the kitchen to prepare a bowl of fresh fruit with the main dish, but they seem to have forgotten. I think they don't like if someone has special wishes."_

 _He laughed, and at that moment the music began to play. It was a waltz, the dance he had liked most in his lessons with Nabooru, because it reminded him of the song of the Ren-Bird._

 _"Would you like to dance?" He asked Impa, and she smiled delightedly._

 _"I would love to, Your Majesty."_

 _They went to the dance floor, where a few more couples had already gathered. He put an arm around her waist and took her hand as she put her other hand on his shoulder. He enjoyed her touch and would have liked to send her a whirl to caress her hand, but he had to be patient._

 _They waited a few measures to adjust to the rhythm, and then they dived into the swinging melody. Impa was light and tender in his arms, despite the muscles he had seen at the tournament, and he felt his heart beat faster as he led her to the music. He looked into her beautiful, noble face, and smiled with joy that she was there with him._

 _He wanted to hear her voice and searched for a topic to speak to her._

 _"Are you aware, Madam," he began, "that we both have different mother tongues and are talking to each other in a third language?"_

 _"You are right, Your Majesty," she said, smiling. "How did you learn Hylian?"_

 _"My deputy Nabooru brought me a textbook, Madam, and I learned this language from her. Some Sisters also speak Hylian, and with them I could practice. However, I do not have a native speaker in my vicinity."_

 _"You speak it very well, Your Majesty," she said approvingly._

 _"Thank you, Madam. I like to learn new languages. Would you perhaps teach me some words of your mother tongue?"_

 _"Of course, Your Majesty. What do you want to know?"_

 _"How would you translate your name, Madam?"_

 _"It means 'Rose,' Your Majesty."_

 _He was surprised. The name suited her red eyes and her sensual lips... But she spoke again._

 _"How would you say my name in your language, Your Majesty?" She asked._

 _"Drilla," he replied._

 _"That sounds beautiful," she said. "Is there another word that you would like to learn in Sheikah?"_

 _"Magic," he said, without thinking. "What do you call the magic in your language, Madam?"_

 _"Tria," she said, speaking the word in two syllables, with the emphasis on the first syllable._

 _"Tria..." he repeated, and the word caressed his tongue like a sweet, ripe fruit. His thoughts wandered off, and she seemed to notice, for she changed the subject._

 _"Did you like the tournament, Your Majesty?" she asked, looking into his eyes._

 _"Oh, yes, Madam," he replied. "Especially the examinations of the Elite Fighters. You are an excellent sword fighter."_

 _"Thank you, Your Majesty," she said, smiling. "I saw you this afternoon when you fought with Mister Pierce for the two-handed sword of the late King Regar. How long have you been fighting with two swords?"_

 _"From the start, Madam," he replied, "although I usually fight with only one sword. But the Gerudo learn to fight with two scimitars from the start, since we don't use shields. I started as a child, but when I grew older, I decided to use straight swords."_

 _"You are good," she said approvingly, and he rejoiced at her praise. "But young Mister Pierce will never forget that you defeated him with one of his own swords."_

 _"It is hard to find two good swords that are... well... large enough for me," he said. "When I had finally found a second sword, I had to give it to a cunning young man from the tribe of the Rislan in Labrynna, to get one of their desert horses. Then I saw this great sword as a prize for the winner in the fight with two swords two days ago – and I knew I had to absolutely have it. I decided to borrow a second sword from Mister Pierce, so I could compete against him. It was just the courage of despair."_

 _"I do not think so," she said, shaking her head. "Your deputy Nabooru told me that you sometimes fight with up to six of your Sisters at the same time."_

 _"Oh," he said, embarrassed. "She likes to exaggerate, Madam. In truth, they are scrambling to fight me only because each of them wants to defeat me. It is hard work."_

 _She laughed, and her white, flawless teeth shone between her soft lips. Although he had never experienced it before, he recognized the special feeling in his body, which was preparing to choose her. Full of anticipation, he braced himself for the stream of the_ Viss _, and noticed that he was going through the list of requirements in his mind._

 _She seemed to eat healthily, and had even skin, strong hair, and healthy teeth. She had taken the examinations of the Elite Fighters, but he would still have to fight with her before he could kiss her..._

 _On the list there were two more points, and since he could not address anyone else, he had to ask her himself._

 _"Are you married, Madam Impa?" he asked._

 _"No, Your Majesty," she said. "Why do you ask?"_

 _"Are you engaged to someone?"_

 _"Neither."_

 _"Do you have children?"_

 _"No, Your Majesty." Her tone was more serious now. "Will you answer my question?"_

 _"Yes, Madam," he hurried to reply. "Forgive me, please. As you perhaps know, I was the first member of my people to be born with the Gift of Magic. You are currently the only woman in the world who has the Gift. The code of honor of my people demands that I ask you these questions before I choose you as my wife."_

 _He gently sent his magic to her as he put his arm tighter around her body. For a fraction of a moment, he felt her shiver, but then she regained her control. His magic hit a rigid barrier from which it bounced like an arrow from a rock._

 _"Please," she said, and this time there was no smile in her eyes. "Withdraw your magic, Your Majesty. I feel flattered by your offer, but unfortunately I must tell you that my duties in the service of the King do not permit any romantic relationships."_

 _Frightened, he drew back his magic and swallowed, while an unpleasant, penetrating sensation poured through his body. At first, he could not classify it, but then he realized what it was: the_ Viss _had already been on its way, but now it retreated._

 _"I do not want to offend you, Madam," he said, his heart pounding wildly from dismay. "But would it perhaps be possible that you think it over again? I could speak to King Nohansen..."_

 _"No, Your Majesty," came her clear answer. "The decision is mine alone, and I do not want you to talk to others about it."_

 _"As you wish, Madam," he said politely. "I thank you for your sincerity."_

 _As if dazed, he tried to keep his eyes with her, hold her hand, and concentrate on the rhythm of the music. Slowly, the realization seeped into his consciousness that the rejection of the only magically gifted woman in the world condemned him to lifelong loneliness._

 _Into his perplexity, however, mingled a different perception, and, confused, he tried to fathom what it was. The light of the candles in the large chandeliers on the ceiling dazzled him, and the conversations of the people in the room echoed in his ears. Even the formerly soft music was suddenly only a loud choir of separate instruments that tried to drown out each other._

 _What was that? Was it perhaps the_ Viss _, whose unsatisfied remnants in his body were increasing all his sensations to the point of distortion? And there was something else there too, a searing emotion that touched his mind as if he had brushed the tormented soul of another being. From two different directions in the room, he sensed frenzied, suppressed jealousy, which was directed against himself. Perturbed, he let his eyes glide over the many guests who were watching the dancing couples._

 _There... and there..._

 _Two men._

 _He recognized one. It was the royal physician, who had been summoned during the competitions the day before for a superficial injury of the King. The young man looked gravely at them, watching Impa's every step, every word she spoke. He seemed to have been in love with her for many years, and the feeling that came from him contained grief and the fear of never reaching her despite his love._

 _The other man was unknown to him. He seemed a few years older than the doctor, and the feelings that came from him contained admiration and adoration, and a strong desire to win Impa for himself._

 _The two men seemed to know nothing about each other, and Impa did not seem to notice their jealousy, or if she did, she did not show it. She was chatting kindly with him, as if his proposal had not taken place at all. When the dance came to an end, he thanked her, bowed politely, and let her go._

 _It was over._

 _So full of hope had he come to this banquet, but that cold, hard barrier, which had repelled his magic, had reduced his dreams to rubble._

 _He was alone, the lonely Ren-Bird in the wide sky, who forever sought after a lover he would never find._


	3. Chapter 3

A/N: In this chapter there will be some phrases in Gerudo. You may find the translation at the end of the chapter text, but perhaps you want to read the chapter first to experience everything like the story's character :-)

 **Chapter 3**

1

"Wake up, my daughter."

Ranalla opened her eyes.

Beneath her back, she felt a hard, smooth surface, and a gentle, blue light surrounded her. Above her, she saw a pair of kind, friendly eyes. They belonged to an old man with a thick, white mustache that stretched across his entire face above his mouth. He wore a long, orange robe, and Ranalla recognized him immediately.

"Rauru!"

She was a Guardian of Time, and the information she needed was contained in her heritage. Therefore, she knew what it meant when she was facing this man: the Goddess had taken her out of the world to assign her a task.

Rauru had been one of the first Sages: a group of beings who, like the Sheikah, helped the Goddess in her fight against the Daemon. He represented the people of the Hylians, and his spirit had been living in the Chamber of the Sages for a long time, waiting for and guiding the incarnations of the Treasure.

The old man put a hand under her shoulder and helped her straighten up. As she looked around, the memory from her heritage flowed into her consciousness, and she recognized the triangular platform where she sat. It bore the sign of the Golden Triforce and was surrounded by six colored pedestals with the symbols of the Sacred Elements. She was in the Chamber of the Sages, that lay in the Temple of Light in the Sacred Realm.

"I'm alive," she said in amazement, rubbing her eyes. "How long have I slept?"

"In the world two hundred and fifteen years have passed, my daughter, but here, of course, no more than a moment. I woke you up because the time has come for you to begin your task."

Ranalla stretched her limbs and shook her white hair. She noticed that she was still wearing the dark combat suit that she had worn when she had left the world.

"What must I do?" she asked.

"Since the dawn of time, the Daemon has been looking for a way to enter the world. In the last Cycle he even succeeded in abducting a member of the Chosen People and using his magic against the Goddess. Only after his servant had exterminated the Sheikah could the Treasure stop the Daemon and destroy his tool."

Ranalla bowed her head and closed her eyes. Before her mind passed pictures of the fire and destruction from which the Goddess had saved her. But it was not over. The fact that she was here meant that it continued...

"He started a new Cycle, am I right?" she said softly.

"Yes, my daughter. He is still in the beginning, and we know that the Treasure is on the way, but we are facing two problems."

"Problems?" Ranalla repeated suspiciously, looking again at Rauru, who had sat down next to her on the platform. "What problems?"

"Thirty years ago," answered Rauru, "for the first time and under mysterious circumstances, a male child with the Gift of Magic was born to the Gerudo. He became the King of his people, as the tradition of the Gerudo demands, but his strong magical Gift and the unusually high concentration of the Structure in his vicinity suggest that the Treasure is in his heritage."

"With the Gerudo?" Ranalla exclaimed doubtfully. "But there has never been magic with the Gerudo! And apart from the single man who appears every hundred years, their tribe consists of women only! How is it possible that the Treasure is with them?"

"We do not know exactly where the king's magic came from, my daughter," said Rauru. "It is possible that it came from the Goddess herself, but it may also be a clever move of the Daemon."

"To prevent the Treasure from being born?"

"So it would seem," said Rauru. "History has shown that even the male Gerudo could only father daughters with the Sisters. The Treasure, however, must be male, and only a Sheikah can have a male child with a Gerudo. That is your task, my daughter."

Ranalla gasped, and her hand came to her mouth. Her eyes twitched over the circle of the colored pedestals of the Elements that surrounded her, while her thoughts were whirling in her head.

She should conceive the Treasure and give birth to him! What had she done to deserve this honor? For his task, the Treasure had to be magically gifted, and all the incarnations of the Treasure so far had possessed a very strong manifestation of the Gift. Ranalla's magic had already awakened when she was five years old, but it was the weakest manifestation ever measured with the Sheikah. She had even needed to learn to do many things in the conventional way, that most members of her people did naturally with their magic. Why had the Goddess chosen her?

Rauru had become quiet and gave her the time she needed. Slowly, her eyes came back to him. He had not told her everything yet.

"And the second problem?" she asked hesitantly.

Rauru swallowed and looked down for a moment.

"At the age of six, the King was adopted by a pair of old, renegade twin sisters. They are Gerudo, but they use a foreign form of magic that we do not know. They have trained the King since his childhood, and now they seem to seek a way to preserve his heritage."

"His heritage?" repeated Ranalla alarmed. "Do they know about the Treasure?"

"That is unlikely," said Rauru. "But last year, the King of the Gerudo was at Hyrule Castle and attempted to approach your sister Impa. She..."

"Impa?" Ranalla interrupted him with a gasp. "So she's alive?"

"Yes, my daughter, she lives in Hyrule Castle and is in the service of the royal family. Already under King Regar Nohansen, the father of the present King, she was a member of the High Council of Hyrule, and still is. She refused the King of the Gerudo, but this incident suggests that he is in search of a magically gifted woman."

 _Impa..._

Ranalla was so happy that she had managed to save Impa, that she did not hear anymore what Rauru said. But he put his hand on her shoulder to regain her attention.

"With the Gerudo Sisters, the King can only father magically ungifted daughters. If, however, he could have a male, magically gifted child with a magically gifted woman, this child would probably be able to father more male magically gifted children, even with the Gerudo Sisters."

"Is that what they're up to?" Ranalla asked in astonishment. "They want to breed a new line?"

"That's what we suspect, my daughter," said Rauru.

Ranalla thought.

"With the Hylians, magic has always been only in the women of the royal family," she said. "If there is an independent line of magically gifted men and the Daemon becomes aware of it..."

Rauru nodded slowly.

"It would be a way for him to reproduce and create a male, magically gifted body for himself again and again," he said. "For this reason, we absolutely need to prevent the formation of this new line."

Ranalla knew he was right. Her head still buzzed when she thought of the outrageous fact that the Treasure was with the Gerudo. How had that happened? Could it be possible that the Guardians were wrong? But so far they had always been right, and the signs had always been very clear...

"Ranalla, my daughter," she heard Rauru's voice, which broke into her confused thoughts. She heard the worry in his voice and returned her attention to him. He took a deep breath before he said in a firm voice:

"You must conceive the Treasure from the King of the Gerudo and bring him to safety. The Treasure must not be recognized as Gerudo or Sheikah, and you can neither pass him the genes for the long life span of the Sheikah. Afterwards, the King must not have any further offspring with other women. This is the order of the Goddess."

"I understand," said Ranalla, swallowing. Slowly, realization about the implications of her task seeped into her consciousness. Never before had she met the body of a man, and a strange anticipation filled her as she tried to familiarize herself with the thought.

"The new King Nohansen has recently married," Rauru continued, "and we expect the Queen to soon be pregnant. If she conceives a daughter, the probability is very high that she will be gifted. If we could let the Treasure be born and bring him to safety, we might even have a chance to defeat the Daemon, if the two children meet and perform the _Bonding._ "

The _Bonding..._

What had she done!

Tears came to Ranalla's eyes as she remembered Impa and Ghirahim, who had been a sacred blood couple and had performed the _Bonding_ at fourteen. Their merged magic had been of immense power, although they had wanted nothing else than to be together and enjoy their feelings. But Ranalla had punished them because she had been angry and envious, and Ghirahim had avenged himself. The Daemon had separated him from his beloved sister and had used his mighty magic to destroy her people.

Had Impa refused the King of the Gerudo for this reason? Was it possible at all to be happy again after such a painful loss? Ranalla bowed her head in sadness as remorse hit her.

"I am unworthy," she said softly. "My magic is weak, and I was... envious. I am to blame for the Daemon destroying my people, the people of the Goddess. If I had not..."

But she felt Rauru's hand raising her face so he could meet her gaze.

"You gave your life to save your sister, my daughter," he said. "The Goddess recognized your soul and gave you the honor of serving her. You must never question her decision. There is a reason for you to be chosen."

Ranalla nodded and wiped the tears from her eyes. She had been given a second chance, and she did not want to disappoint the Goddess.

"How can I approach the King of the Gerudo?" she asked.

Rauru looked at her with serious eyes.

"No one must know about you and your mission, my daughter. You must travel unrecognized to the Gerudo and reach the Desert Temple. However, the path leads over the Fortress, which is heavily guarded. The Sisters capture everyone who tries to enter."

"The Desert Temple?" Ranalla asked in astonishment.

"Yes, the King has chosen the Temple as his residence. He has marked the way through the treacherous Haunted Wasteland and through the quicksand with magic, so that he can easily move between the Temple and the Fortress."

Ranalla considered her assignment. She was to conceive a male child from the King of the Gerudo, who could only father daughters. This alone was not difficult, for, as Sheikah, she could determine the sex and part of the outward appearance of her children. The difficult part of the task was to find the King, to seduce him, to bring the child to safety, and to make sure that the King could not have any further offspring with other women.

She had slept in the Chamber of the Sages for two hundred and fifteen years, and she had not used her magic for a long time. Tentatively, she concentrated, trying to call a little blue flame. She smiled happily as she managed, and while the soft, cool light shone calmly in her hand, Ranalla tried to make a plan.

Her magic was weak, and none of her invisibility shields had ever lasted longer than a few minutes, but it would have to suffice. First, she would have to sneak past the guards and enter the Fortress to get to the Temple in the desert. She had no idea of how to seduce the King yet, but one of the reasons for her to be chosen as the First of the Sheikah by the community had been the strong spirit of invention she had developed because of her weak magic.

She would instruct her body to mature an egg cell, and then she would have to come up with something.

Only the last part of her task was a bit of a headache. When she had conceived the Treasure, she would have to leave the Temple again. What if the King did not let her go? She would have to disappear quickly, before he learned that she was pregnant. But how could she ensure that he would not father further offspring with other women? She knew no spell that had this effect.

Could that mean that she had to kill him?

"What is the name of the King of the Gerudo?" she asked Rauru.

"His name is Ganondorf Dragmire, my daughter."

2

Thousands of years ago, Rauru had built the Temple of Time in Castle Town together with the Incarnations of the Sages of his time. Now he kept watch in the Chamber of the Sages to serve the Goddess, but his essence was still magically connected with the sacred place he had helped to create. Therefore, he had brought Ranalla to the Temple on a spring night, and from there she had been on her own. Rauru had told her the way to the Gerudo Valley and had estimated that she would need about a week to reach it on foot. She had needed to wait in the Temple until the sun rose, for only then was the gate to the Field of Hyrule opened.

In the soft light of the stars shining through the large windows into the quiet room, Ranalla had laid down on the red carpet leading from the entrance to the altar of dark stone. She had closed her eyes, and moved into that state of deep meditation that helped her establish the connection with her body. For the first time in her life, she had ordered it to create an egg cell, and had felt how it had immediately gotten to work.

In the morning, she had made herself invisible with her magic, and had left the city unseen over the drawbridge. As Rauru had advised her, she had followed the road south for three days on the vast field of Hyrule. At a crossroads, he had waited for her in the form of the great owl Kaepora Gaebora, which was his physical appearance in the world. He had made sure that she was doing well, and had guided her west toward the Gerudo Valley. For four more days she had been traveling on foot to reach it. She had eaten the fresh plants that she had found in the woods, and from the farms she had passed, she had secretly stolen fruit and other food which she had cooked with her magic or eaten raw. As she was not to be seen in the Field either, she had made herself invisible again and again, when other travelers had crossed her path.

When Ranalla had awakened on the morning of the seventh day behind the protective blackberry hedge where she had been sleeping, she had noticed a strange feeling in her body, one that she had never experienced before. Amazed, she had realized that it came from the egg cell whose creation her body had just finished. She had marched all day and had only taken short breaks, because from that point, she had only one week left to let the cell be fertilized. Just before sunset, she had reached the fork that led through the rocks to the Gerudo Valley.

From her training, Ranalla knew that the Gerudo were a strong, clean, and healthy people. From other members of the community she had even learned a few words of their language, but that had been more than two centuries ago, and she did not know whether the words were still used at all. But she knew she would have to face the King in a clean shape if she wanted to gain his goodwill, so she had washed herself and her dark combat suit in the brook that was flowing in the passage to the Gerudo Valley, and had dried it with her magic.

Now the last hurdle lay before her. According to Rauru's explanation, there was no direct route to the Spirit Temple in the Gerudo Desert. The only way into the Desert was through the Gerudo Valley, which was controlled and guarded by the Fortress of the Gerudo Sisters. She had to cross the Valley and enter the Fortress.

There was also no way to get unseen across the deep ravine that divided the Gerudo Valley. Ranalla had wondered if she should try to jump over, but she had never crossed such a long distance with a jump. If she tied a part of her magic with an invisibility shield, the rest would be just enough to give her a little momentum. But if she missed the edge of the ravine, her body would be shattered on the rock wall and then carried away by the torrents of the river. For this reason, she had decided to use the wooden bridge, which connected the two parts of the Gerudo Valley.

Concealed by darkness and the bushes, Ranalla lay on the ground with her face covered, watching the bridge. In the light of the torches, she had counted six tall Gerudo warriors, and each of them bore a long spear with a broad, curved blade at the top. Two were guarding her end of the bridge, two more were standing in the middle, and two at the other end. On the high rock platform beyond the valley she had also noticed some guards who where watching the bridge and the valley from above.

With a deep breath, she rose and called her magic to build an invisibility shield around her body, that would conceal her for a few minutes from the eyes of the guards. The shield, however, would not dampen the noise, and Ranalla had to move slowly and quietly so as not to attract the attention of the guards.

The magical camouflage field caused her surroundings to flicker before her eyes, and cautiously she set off. The soft boots on her feet barely made a sound on the hard rock of the Gerudo Valley as she stepped out from behind the dry bushes.

Up to the bridge, it was about a hundred paces, which she had to cross quickly to have enough time for the bridge itself. She began to run and tried to stay on her toes to muffle her footsteps. When she had come twenty paces before the bridge, she stopped short and pondered. The guards were facing her, staring into the darkness. Behind them were two torches that illuminated everything that was approaching the bridge.

Ranalla advanced slowly. As she walked toward the guards, she heard them speak in their own language. She heard the words _ruad, strani,_ and _rovis_ , which she knew meant _king, Sister,_ and _to fight_. The guards seemed to be talking about a topic that kept them laughing cheerfully again and again. Ranalla wanted to use this to get past them. When the guards laughed, she stepped forward a few paces, until she was standing right in front of them. Then one of the guards turned her head back and shouted something to the guards in the middle of the bridge. One of the other guards replied, and the guard beside Ranalla burst out in laughter. Ranalla quickly sneaked between the two Sisters and descended the stone steps to the bridge. But when she stepped onto the bridge, it creaked softly, and she froze.

She turned her head and saw that the two guards were looking at the place where she was standing. They could not see her yet, but the shield would soon fade, and then she would be at the mercy of the guards. They had become serious and were speaking softly to each other. After a while, however, they seemed to relax, and they continued their cheerful conversation. When they laughed again, Ranalla took another step, but the wood creaked again. She cursed inwardly and stopped. One of the guards left her post and came down the steps toward Ranalla. The guard looked around and stepped on the wood of the bridge, which creaked again. She was close to her, and another step of the guard would betray Ranalla.

She thought feverishly. If she ran, she could cross the bridge and hide in the shadow of the bushes. The guards would be warned and would immediately call for reinforcements and search for her, but she hoped that she would be able to pass them with another camouflage barrier, as soon as she would be on the other side of the ravine.

With a jerk, she ran off, just as the guard turned and wanted to go back over the steps. Ranalla ran briskly across the bridge, and every step made the wood creak and groan. She heard the guards at the end of the bridge warn the others, and the two guards on the middle of the bridge stepped in front of her, blocking her way. Ranalla bent her knees, jumped over them in a somersault, and ran on. She saw the guards at the other end of the bridge also stand in her way, and she jumped again. She flew through the air and turned around to gain height and end up behind the guards at the top of the stairs, but she hit an invisible wall with the full force of her momentum. She screamed in pain and fell down onto the two guards, who both fell to the ground under her. Ranalla wanted to get up, but she felt the strong hands of the guards grab her. The two Sisters from the middle of the bridge had also approached and were blindly grabbing in the air for her. She wrenched herself free and wanted to flee, but the guards blocked her way. They had cornered her on the steps, and she could not even jump down into the ravine. Once again, she tried to run up the steps, but there was the invisible barrier that was blocking her way. She bounced against it and was thrown back, straight into the arms of the four guards. The women seized her and pressed her to the ground. She fidgeted and squirmed, and the guards screamed, but they held her tight. Then one of the women stepped back and directed the curved blade of her long spear at her.

"Be quiet!" she said with a loud voice in Hylian. "I cannot see you, but I've felt you, and I know where your heart is."

3

Ranalla froze. Her magic was not strong enough to stun all the guards, and she knew that a new attempt would not take her any further, especially as the guards were now warned. Someone – probably the King – had blocked the way across the bridge with a permanent barrier that would let nobody pass who was not Gerudo. His magical powers had to be immense if he was able to build such barriers.

"Undo the spell that surrounds you," she heard the voice of the guard that was threatening her with the spear. "We know it's not going to last long, and we can hold you for a long time until it dissolves by itself."

"I need my hand for that," Ranalla said in Hylian.

"You do not," said the guard. "How stupid do you think we are?"

Ranalla was annoyed and pressed her lips together. She withdrew her magic, and with the barrier the flickering disappeared before her eyes.

She was lying on her back on the wood of the bridge, and three tall Gerudo Sisters were lying over her, holding her fettered.

 _"Niala, at-nentrij elti-su skalin,"_ said the guard with the spear, and one of the three others shifted her position on Ranalla and pulled the scarf from her face. Ranalla reared up and pressed her eyes shut, but the guards lay like rock blocks on her body and held her. The guard with the spear stepped behind her, lifted Ranalla's head, cleverly opened the knot of her scarf and pulled it completely off her head.

 _"Sheikah!"_ Ranalla heard her call out in a low voice. Then the guard turned to the other three and said: _"At-solnites, sertu nal at-jartites elti!"_

The three guards who were holding her rose and dragged Ranalla to her feet. All four women were taller than Ranalla, and under the skin of their bare arms she saw strong muscles.

"What do you want here, Sheikah?" The guard with the spear asked roughly. Ranalla gave no answer. One of the other three women said something again, and Ranalla heard the word _ruad_ for King and the name _Impa._ The guard with the spear thought for a moment, then said:

"All right. Probably you would not tell the truth anyway, Sheikah."

She stepped back a few steps so that she was lit by the light of the torches, and began to perform sweeping gestures with her arms. She looked tensely at the rock platform where Ranalla had seen the other guards. When she finished, she waited a moment and Ranalla guessed that the other guards were answering.

 _"Jartimo elti,"_ said the woman. _"Ruad ban rimo dernijet. Malrijet rinnais elti."_ The three other guards tightened their grip around her arms, pushed her a step backwards, and tried to push her onto the steps.

"Sit down," said the guard with the spear. She seemed to be the only one who could speak Hylian. Ranalla sat on the steps. Two of the other guards continued to hold her arms, and the third, the one who had pulled the scarf from Ranalla's face, sat behind Ranalla. She clutched Ranalla's upper body from behind with her legs, and then Ranalla felt a dagger at her neck.

"We will not kill you, Sheikah," said the guard with the spear. "But we can also inflict very painful injuries on you, which are not deadly, but still put you out of action. You cannot heal them with your magic because our blades are enchanted, and the wounds remain open until the King himself heals them."

Ranalla lowered her gaze. There was no point in trying to escape. The King had built an effective protection around the Fortress.

She wondered what the guard had agreed with the Sisters on the rock platform. She had used the word for _king_ again. Could they perhaps not take her through the barrier, needing to wait for the King to come? A shiver ran through her body. She had not expected to meet him so soon. What if he just threw her into the dungeons? What if he was not even interested in her?

"What are you waiting for?" she dared to ask in Hylian, raising her eyes to the guard with the spear. The guard smiled slightly, and Ranalla saw a glimpse of pride in her face.

"You'll soon know, Sheikah," she said.

Frustrated, Ranalla lowered her gaze again. If they called the King from the Desert Temple, it would probably take some time before he came. Maybe they would even have to wake him up...

After a short while, she heard noises behind her. Instinctively, she wanted to turn her head to look behind her, but the guard, whose dagger lay on Ranalla's throat, held her head.

 _"Nal skurij, Sheikah!"_ she growled.

Ranalla gave up and tried to focus on the sounds behind her. She heard steps from several people approaching. One of them seemed to be taller and heavier than the others, for his steps were slower. Ranalla's precise hearing distinguished four other people along with the one with the slower steps whom she supposed to be the King. The sounds of the steps approached and stopped behind her, at the upper end of the steps to the bridge.

 _"Nest elti prelil sijet, Weri?"_ she heard a male voice ask softly.

The guard with the spear gave a bow.

 _"Nalin, ri-su ruad,"_ she replied. _"Sertu strani at Sheikah lauranis sijet. Skurimo Impa sijet."_

Ranalla again understood the words for _king_ and _Sister_ and the names _Sheikah_ and _Impa_. And a new word was used that she also recognized: _lauran_.

 _Magic._

The steps of the man approached again, and Ranalla suddenly had the familiar feeling that indicated to her the presence of magic. He must have walked through the barrier!

She gasped involuntarily and tried to straighten, but the clinging grip of the guard behind her held her tight. Ranalla closed her eyes and breathed heavily as the magic came even closer when the man descended and stepped in front of her.

She opened her eyes and looked up at him – and shivered.

He was even taller than the tall guards, and his whole figure radiated such unbridled strength and self-confidence that Ranalla could only stare at him with wide eyes. Amazed, she saw him bend his knee and come down in front of her to be on her eye level, and with greedy eyes she took in his appearance.

On his legs he wore dark trousers with a deep waistband, and firm boots. His bright, sleeveless vest was open at the front and showed strong muscles on his body. Long, smooth, light-red hair fell to his elbows, and the front strands were braided to the sides. The golden eyes of his people shone in the light of the torches in the soft, light-brown tone of his face, whose noble, manly beauty took Ranalla's breath away. Her heart struck her neck, for he was so close, and his magic was so strong that she felt its insistence in her innermost being.

"Good evening, Madam Imp..."

He had spoken Hylian, but he suddenly broke off. He snorted softly, shaking his head incredulously, but in his eyes, Ranalla also noticed something else. She saw there the spark of an intense feeling she had not expected, and she realized that it was joy.

"But no..." he said, smiling. His voice was deep and had a gentle, beguiling tone that drew Ranalla under its spell.

"... You're not Impa!" He shook his head slowly again. "But you're Sheikah, am I right? I must say I am surprised."

She could not look at him, for his smile and voice touched a deeply hidden spot inside her, one that she could not at first recognize. But then she remembered the ripened egg cell in her body. Was it its urge for fulfillment that she felt, and that almost made her lose her mind?

 _"Niala, at-nentrij darsin, riit,"_ he said to the guard behind her, and the hand holding the dagger at her throat disappeared.

 _"Lissu solunen."_ The legs of the guard that gripped Ranalla's body also retreated.

"Look at me, Madam," he then said in a firm voice in Hylian to Ranalla. She felt his words penetrate her mind, and without being able to resist, she turned her face to him, and her eyes looked into his.

His gaze remained a long moment on her face, and his lips opened and moved as if to say something. For a quick moment, she saw the tip of his tongue as he swallowed and moistened his lips, and amazed, she caught herself as she imagined feeling those lips on hers. Although she had never experienced it, there seemed to be a memory of that feeling in her mind, and a deep longing for his kiss spread inside her. Then she felt his gaze wander over her body like warm hands that explored it with loving urge.

"Who are you?" he asked. Again, his words sounded like an echo in her mind, and she realized that he used his magic to reinforce the will behind his words. She called her magic and built a barrier in her mind to resist his intrusion. He chuckled, and she felt his magic coming to her and caressing her.

"You are gifted, Madam," he said. "But..."

His hand came to her cheek, and she knew that she should have pulled back, but she wanted to feel his hand... A whirl came from his fingers, gently stroking her skin while his hand slowly, tenderly slid down her cheek.

"Your magic... it's trapped..." he whispered.

But then he suddenly gasped and closed his eyes, bowed his head, and trembled.

Ranalla looked at him in confusion, wondering what his words meant. He raised his head slowly, opening his eyes. As he withdrew his hand, Ranalla's eyes followed it, for she had the strong desire to follow his touch. His magic had reached out for her, and for a moment, her own magic had reared up as if it were seeking for an opening, to break out of her body and go to him.

She looked at him again and saw that he was looking at her face.

"My guards told me that you wanted to enter the Fortress concealed by magic," he said. "Fortunately you failed at my barrier, which protects the access. Will you tell me why you came to us tonight, Madam?"

Ranalla was silent, for she did not know what to say.

Maybe she could distract him...

"What do you mean – my magic is trapped?" she asked.

He laughed.

"I like you, Madam," he said, smiling. "Come on, let's start over again." He put a hand on his chest and said, "I am Ganondorf Dragmire, King of the Gerudo, and lord of this place you wanted to enter. May I now know your name?"

"Ranalla," said Ranalla.

He smiled. "Good evening, Madam Ranalla."

Ranalla nodded softly.

Unlike Rauru, he had spoken his second name with three distinct syllables, emphasizing the second syllable and pronouncing the 'i' like a long 'ee' sound. She would have liked to ask what his name meant, but he spoke again.

"Since you do not carry any weapons with you except your trapped magic, I assume that you do not intend to kill anyone. The guards will now release you, and I hope that you will accept my hospitality without attempting to flee. Do you agree, Madam?"

"Yes, Your Majesty," said Ranalla. It could not hurt to address him with his title, for he had been polite to her.

 _"At-jartites elti,"_ he said to the guards, and they released her arms.

"Come, Madam Ranalla," he then said to her and reached for her hand. "I must lead you, otherwise you will not get through the barrier."

She gave him her hand, and his hand closed with a firm grip around hers. She heard the four guards who had captured her gasp softly in surprise as he pulled her to her feet. The four guards he had brought along grouped around them, and she walked up the stairs on his hand. A feeling as if she were walking through a thin wall of water indicated her that she was passing through the barrier, then she was on the other side of the ravine.

4

Ganondorf kept Ranalla's hand in his as they crossed the rocky ground of the part of the Gerudo Valley that lay on the side of the Fortress. When they had crossed the Valley, they walked between high rock walls through a hollow path lit by torches, past a high staircase, until they arrived in the courtyard of the Fortress. Ranalla looked around and saw several guards who were carrying the same long spears as the guards at the bridge.

"Just look around, Madam," she heard Ganondorf's voice. "But we will not stay here. I want to take you to the Temple tonight, for the only rooms here that can be locked are the cells in the dungeon."

 _That can be locked?_

Did he want to lock her up? He wanted to lock her up, but he did not want her to be in the dungeon? She looked at his face questioningly, but he merely smiled in the darkness and drew her with him.

They approached a large gate that was blocking another passage between the rock walls. Next to it was a high watchtower, and in front of it, in the light of other torches, were standing five horses. One of them was taller than the others, and Ranalla had never seen one of so dark a color. The torches illuminated its fire-red mane that fell over its back like blazing flames. Ganondorf led Ranalla to the horses while the four guards escorted them.

 _"At-nentrites lessar at Sardun, riit,"_ he said to the guards, and one of them ran ahead and began to unbuckle the saddle of the great horse. When she had finished, she put the saddle under the torches, and another guard came and took it.

Ganondorf stopped in front of the large horse and looked at Ranalla. Then he released her hand, put his hands around her waist and swung her up. She spread her legs and let him sit her on the now free back of the large horse. With a skillful movement he came behind her, and his long hair brushed her cheek as he reached past her for the reins. The four guards also mounted their horses, then the gate to the desert was raised. Ranalla felt Ganondorf tense the muscles in his thighs beside her legs, and the horse started to move.

He sat close behind her, and her back was leaning against his chest. While she tried to keep her body relaxed and adapt to the movements of the horse, Ganondorf lifted her left arm with his hand and let his arm slip around her body. Through her combat suit she felt the firm muscles of his warm body under the thin fabric of his vest, as his hand pressed her to him. She felt the overwhelming presence of his magic, which kept reaching out for her, and the barrier in her mind trembled every time she felt it.

"Lower your barrier, Madam," she heard his soft voice, and his lips brushed her ear. "I promise you that I will not influence you. I have never been so close to a magically gifted woman, and I want to enjoy the feeling."

Ranalla closed her eyes as a deep shiver ran through her body, and she slowly shook her head.

"Please, Madam..." he urged her gently, and Ranalla felt him bury his face in her hair from the side as he inhaled her smell.

She took a deep breath and timidly lowered her mental barrier. She felt him inhale deeply again, and the pressure of his hand intensified. His arm pressed her to him so tightly that she could barely breathe and was panting for air.

"Your Ma... jesty..." she stammered.

"Oh, forgive me, Madam," he said, breathing heavily, and his grip loosened. "The feeling is..."

She felt his weight move backwards, and the horse stopped. When she opened her eyes, she saw a gentle, blue light above the ground in front of them. She heard the horses of the four guards approaching and stopping behind them.

 _"Ri-su ruad?"_ one of the guards asked respectfully.

 _"Rundites ban Sarnimran,"_ he replied, and the guards rode past them, disappearing in the darkness.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Translations:

 _Niala, at-nentrij elti-su skalin. - Niala, remove her mask._  
 _At-solnites, sertu nal at-jartites elti! - Stand up, but don't let her go!_  
 _Jartimo elti. Ruad ban rimo dernijet. Malrijet rinnais elti. - We hold her. The King is coming here. He wants to see her._  
 _Nal skurij, Sheikah! - Don't (even) think about it, Sheikah!_  
 _Nest elti prelil sijet, Weri? - What did she say, Weri?_  
 _Nalin, ri-su ruad. Sertu strani at Sheikah lauranis sijet. Skurimo Impa sijet. - Nothing, my King. But she is a magically gifted Sheikah. We believe, she's Impa._  
 _Niala, at-nentrij darsin, riit. - Niala, remove the dagger, please._  
 _Lissu solunen. - The legs too._  
 _At-jartites elti. - Release her._  
 _At-nentrites lessar at Sardun, riit. - Remove Sardun's saddle, please._  
 _Ri-su ruad? - My King?_  
 _Rundites ban Sarnimran. - Ride to the Desert Temple.  
_


	4. Chapter 4

A/N: Translations of the Gerudo phrases are at the end of the chapter text.

 **Chapter 4**

1

Ranalla remained alone with Ganondorf, and he let his horse move at a walking pace. The sound of the hooves of the great horse on the sand changed, and the blue glow on the ground became a fine, shimmering line, and Ganondorf had his horse follow it.

Before she had left, Rauru had described the Fortress to her, and now Ranalla recognized the mark he had spoken of. According to his explanation, outside the Fortress there was a deadly quicksand field, where humans and animals sank and found a miserable death if they were not saved. Behind the quicksand was the Haunted Wasteland, a dangerous region, whose mist of fine sand that was stirred up into the air by the wind made any orientation impossible. Ranalla turned her gaze to the front, and at a distance, she saw a dark fog wall that seemed to obscure even the sky full of stars.

The sound of the flowing sand under the steps of the horse changed again as they entered the gloomy mist. Ranalla looked around, but she could see no details. Aside from the shimmering mark, the same impenetrable darkness prevailed everywhere, and Ranalla noticed how her muscles tensed, for she had the feeling of being dissolved to nothing and trapped forever in that mist. Ganondorf seemed to notice her anxiety, for his arm, which was at her waist, pressed her to him again, and she felt his lips and his warm breath on her temple.

"Do not be afraid, Madam," he said softly. "My horse knows the way, and the fog disappears when we reach the valley."

She nodded softly and felt his long hair stroking her cheeks in the lively wind that tasted of sand. He pressed his lips to the soft skin beneath her ear as his hand began to wander slowly over her body. Her heart pounded violently and her breath grew faster as his fingers went down and then came forward following her hip bone. She wanted to press her legs together, but in that position it was not possible, and gasping, she dug her fingers in his legs beside her. His hand came back up again, and just as if naturally, it caressed one of her breasts over her tight combat suit with gentle pressure. Ranalla was so fascinated and overwhelmed by his closeness that she did not even think of resisting his arousing touch. She felt the presence of his magic, which met hers, circled and lured it, and then it removed again, as he sighed softly.

"It's not ready yet..." he breathed. Ranalla gasped confused, and his arm pushed up, pressing her shoulder against his chest where she felt his heart beating. As in a frenzy, she leaned against him and closed her eyes as she felt her strength leave her. She surrendered herself completely to his hands that took over her body, because everything inside her just wanted to let it happen.

2

"We have arrived, Madam".

Startled, she jumped under his hand and opened her eyes as she heard his voice again. Her body stiffened and she tried to stay upright as she felt his body move away. She looked around and saw that they had left the desert, and the alien darkness had given way to the soft light of the stars.

In front of her lay a huge rock, and a few steps led up to an entrance, from which flickering, reddish light was flowing outside. Ganondorf lifted Ranalla off the horse and placed her on her feet, but then he bent down to lift her into his arms, and effortlessly carried her up the steps through the entrance. They came into a large hall with several doors, and Ranalla saw the four guards waiting for them with torches.

 _"Risha, nentrij ri cedril,"_ he said, and one of the guards went ahead and opened a door for him. He carried Ranalla through several corridors, over stairs and through more doors, until they reached a dark room.

The guard put the torch into a support in the middle of the room, and Ganondorf put Ranalla back on her feet in front of a bed near the wall. He took her face into his hands and magical whirls broke off his fingers, which caressed her face and her hair as he looked at her. With a brief glance, he turned to the guard still standing next to the torch and said:

 _"Prelij stranen, versil sis ban elti, Risha. Nentrij elti nest ban bralis, lissu prelij Nabooru, at-spartis elti ban olnin, riit."_

 _"Juun, ri-su ruad,"_ the guard replied, looking at Ranalla with a friendly smile. It was the longest statement she had heard from Ganondorf in Gerudo since she had arrived, and she was annoyed by the fact that apart from the word _stranen,_ which seemed to be a form of _strani,_ and _ruad,_ which the guard had said, she had not understood anything.

Ganondorf's gaze came back to her.

"The guard will show you where you can wash up and will bring you something to eat, Madam. I would like to point out to you that there is no point in making an escape attempt. The marking through the desert only works when I induce it, and in front of the Temple there is a barrier similar to that around the Fortress. It lets the guards go through, but only I can lead someone through. Without my company it will hurt you when you touch it. I still have a task to carry out, and I will have you summoned tomorrow. Good night, Madam."

His warm hands left her face hesitantly, but then he turned around jerkily. The footsteps of his heavy boots echoed on the stone slabs as he disappeared through the door and left Ranalla behind with the guard.

When he was gone, the guard came to her and took her hand. As if in a dream, Ranalla walked with her to a small door in the wall opposite the entrance door. The guard opened the door and showed Ranalla a small bathroom that seemed to have been built into this room. Then the guard asked Ranalla with gestures if she was hungry, and Ranalla nodded. The guard moved away, and Ranalla heard the door lock from outside.

A short time later, the woman came back and brought a bowl with several pieces of raw vegetables, three figs, and just as many spherical eggs that seemed to come from a reptile. The guard put everything on the stool next to the bed, then pulled a hairbrush and a small wooden stick out of her pocket. She gave Ranalla the hairbrush first, then she pointed with the stick to her teeth and made a brushing movement with it. Ranalla took the stick out of her hand and found that it split into many hard, bristle-like fibers, which formed a kind of brush at the end. She thanked her with a smile, then the guard nodded briefly to Ranalla and left. The bolt was pushed forward and Ranalla remained alone.

Slowly, she sat down on the bed and shook her head to clear her mind. But the thoughts and images were buzzing through her head, and she could not bring them in order. She had had a plan to fulfill her mission, but a simple magical barrier had ruined it.

And this King, this male Gerudo...

Shivering, she remembered his sight from the bridge. He was taller than any other man she had ever seen, and the touch of his muscles on her body had aroused a deep longing in Ranalla. With the calm self-confidence of a King he had seized her and taken her with him, just like a toy he had found. Unlike the guards from the bridge, he had spoken to her politely, but without ever leaving any doubt that he was the one who decided what was going to happen to her.

She had a matured egg cell in her body that would wait only a week, and the first day was already over. The king had instructed his guards to take care of her, but she was locked in the room, and could do nothing. Sighing, Ranalla covered her face with her hands. She would just have to wait...

With a deep breath, she reached for the bowl the guard had brought, and began to eat. The vegetables were fresh and clean, the figs ripe and sweet, and the eggs were cooked. When she had eaten up and had collected the shells of the eggs in the bowl, she placed it on the floor under the stool. Then she took off her boots and went into the small bathroom. On the table next to the water basin, to which a metal tube with a tap was leading, lay a clean cloth and two towels. She took off her suit and washed the dust of the desert from her body. Then she brushed her teeth with the wooden stick, whose bristles with the sweet, wild taste left a clean feeling in her mouth. There was no mirror in the room, so Ranalla took her combat suit and the headscarf with her and placed both on the stool, then she sat naked on the bed and thoughtfully combed her hair with the brush the guard had brought her.

When she had left the world and the Goddess had brought her into the Chamber of the Sages, Ranalla had been two hundred and twenty years old. She had slept in the Chamber of the Sages for more than two centuries, but during that time she had not aged. To every Hylian she would appear like a woman of twenty-five, or even younger. She was taller than many Hylian women, and with her long, white hair and red eyes she could clearly be recognized as Sheikah.

Ranalla thought sadly that she had never found a companion among the men of her people. She had been their leader for a long time, and had used her magic, but she had never met a man who made her soul tremble like this King.

"It's not ready yet..."

What had he meant? Ranalla remembered the day when her magic had awoken. She had been five years old, and since then she had not thought about it. What did the King know? She could not figure it out.

Frustrated, she shook her head and put the brush beside her suit on the stool. Her eyes were aching, and after the long march across the field of Hyrule, she longed to find some peace. She went to the stand with the torch from the guard, took it out, and put it in the clay pot with sand next to it. Darkness enveloped her, and she waited briefly for her eyes to adjust to the dim light of the stars that entered through the high window. Then she found her way back to the bed and lay down. Despite the stirring thoughts and feelings that were spinning in her mind, she immediately fell asleep.

3

 _In the motionless silence, the slightest noise sounded like a thunder bang. The clang of the gate in front of the entrance of the dungeon being opened was, however, a deafening roar that pierced Ranalla through marrow and bone. Then she heard the sound of steps entering from the courtyard, and the sand crunched under heavy boots on the stone slabs of the corridor. It was quiet for a moment, then she heard a soft hiss, and at the edge of her field of vision she noticed that the light was moving in the darkness: a torch had been removed from its support._

 _The light approached, and in her mind, Ranalla could follow the progress of the intruder who was approaching over the hard, rough rock. She had guessed at once who it was, for the steps were heavy and slow, and she would have recognized the sound of his boots on the floor of the corridor even if he had come with his four guards._

 _The muscles in her arms that were held up by the chains, tensed, and she straightened. The shackles allowed her very little space, and she used it to lean against the wall and sleep when she was alone._

 _Two Sisters had come in the morning, who had allowed her to wash up and had given her a special root to clean her teeth. They had also brought food and drink, and clean, Hylian clothes for her. Every few hours, the Sisters had returned with a bucket and had loosened her shackles for a short time._

 _Apart from the pain in her arms and legs, she was doing well. On the one hand, she was calm, for she thought the Gerudo would probably not care for her if they wanted to kill her. On the other hand, in the behavior of the Sisters she had felt a peculiar, frightening anticipation, as if they had something special in mind with Ranalla._

 _On the other side of the room, a red light appeared on the wall, brightening the darkness in her cell. She directed her gaze up above her head to the tiny bright spot that was the only light illuminating her cell during the day. In the rock forming the ceiling of her cell was a slit that allowed some brightness to fall into the room during the day. She could not see the bright point, so it had to be night._

 _The steps were very close now, and Ranalla knew he was about to turn around the corner. She leaned back against the wall, closed her eyes, and let her head sink to her chest._

 _He seemed to wait for a moment before he entered the room. Through her closed lids, Ranalla noticed the sudden brightness and shrugged. A hot wave of terror streamed through her body, and she hoped that he had not seen her move. She heard him take a step in her direction and then stop._

 _She had closed her eyes because she had hoped that he would leave when he saw that she was asleep. But now, as if from a distance, she felt the presence of his magic, and curiosity mingled with her fear. What did he want from her? Why was he coming without his guards?_

 _Again she heard his steps and could feel his magic approaching. The light also came closer until it finally stopped in front of her cell. She heard him put the crackling torch into the holder on the wall, and felt her eyes adjust to the light through her closed eyelids. She heard the sound of the bolt that was pushed aside, then the squeak of the gate that opened._

4

From the sound of the bolt being pushed aside, she awoke from the nightmarish dream. Bright sunlight fell on her covers and on the stone slabs of the floor through the high-up window. She straightened, and her gaze fell on the stool next to her bed. Her combat suit, headscarf, and hairbrush lay on it, and on the ground beneath it her boots were beside the bowl with the eggshells from her dinner.

The door opened and a Gerudo Sister came in, whom Ranalla had not yet seen. She came to the stool beside her bed and picked up the bowl.

"Good morning, Madam," she said in Hylian.

"Good morning," Ranalla replied. "You speak Hylian?"

"Yes, Madam. The King wants you to wash and dress, and then to have breakfast with him."

"What is your name?" Ranalla asked.

"Nabooru," said the Sister. "Do you need anything else, Madam?"

"No," said Ranalla. "I just need a few moments."

"I will wait for you outside, Madam," said Nabooru. "Just come through the door when you're ready."

She went out again. Ranalla rose and washed up in the small bathroom. Then she put on her combat suit and her boots, but left the headscarf there. When she had finished, she opened the door and found Nabooru, who was waiting for her patiently.

"Follow me, Madam," she demanded, and went ahead. "Please do not attempt to escape," she said after a few steps. "The exits of the Temple are not guarded, but you would get lost. If we do not find you in time, you will starve and die of thirst."

Ranalla did not reply, but followed Nabooru through a ramified system of corridors and stairs until they reached a door on a higher floor. Nabooru opened the door and let Ranalla enter, then closed the door behind her.

Ranalla was standing in a wide hall, which was a little longer to the back, than wide. The light of the morning sun shone through four large windows in the far right corner. The furniture was arranged as if in some sort of combination of living room, study, and dining room. There were several tables in different parts of the room, several shelves with books, many cabinets, chests of drawers and chests, sofas, armchairs, and chairs.

On a table in the corner with the windows Ranalla saw two place settings. She stepped up to the table while she looked around for Ganondorf. He was not in the room. She went and sat down on a chair at the table with the settings and looked at the breakfast. A bowl with various fruits was standing on the table, along with a jug she assumed to be filled with tea, and another bowl with a mash that seemed to consist of several cereal varieties soaked in a sort of watery milk.

Ranalla waited for a while, but no one came. Timidly, she turned around in her chair and began to look at the room. After another while, still no one had come, and she rose again and wandered around the room. She went to the bookshelves and read the titles on the backs of the books. Most of them were in Hylian and seemed to deal with natural sciences. Some books, however, had no label, and Ranalla arbitrarily took one of them out of the shelf. She opened it, and gasped. It was written in her mother tongue, and it was the first volume of a work on the nature of magic. She placed the book back on the shelf and took out the next one. It seemed to be the second volume, dealing with different spells and the possibilities to summon them.

A sound from the door made her flinch, and when she looked, she saw Ganondorf standing there. As on the previous evening, he wore dark trousers and a light, sleeveless vest with an embroidered geometric pattern in blue and red, and his feet were stuck in the firm boots she had immediately recognized in her peculiar dream. Over his shoulder he had a sword-belt, and Ranalla saw the preciously decorated hilt of a large longsword peeking out from a sheath on his back. His long, red hair fell over it, and the front strands were again braided to the sides, so they did not fall into his face.

For a long moment, they looked at each other, then Ganondorf came to her, holding her gaze. As he approached, Ranalla became aware of his magic. Her heart pounded violently as she felt his magic reach out for hers and make her tremble. Her magic seemed to want to answer him, and Ranalla had the impression that it was about to break out, like a captive animal that threw itself against the cage bars, but could not get out. Ganondorf took the book from her hand and put it back into the shelf, and she followed the book with her eyes and let it happen without being able to prevent it. Then she felt Ganondorf's hand on her hair tilting her head backwards so he could see her eyes.

"Let it go, Madam," he said softly. "I am aware of your magic. Let it awake!"

"But..." Ranalla stammered. "It awoke, Your Majesty, when I was five years old..."

He smiled. "Oh, no, Madam," he said. "Only a small part of it has awoken. The rest is still asleep, and it is waiting. But you must allow it to awake completely."

Ranalla frowned. What did he mean?

"But how..." she heard herself say. "I do not know what you mean, Your Majesty."

His hands left her hair and he withdrew his magic. Ranalla felt as if a connection had suddenly been broken, and it hurt her that it was gone.

"Come, Madam, let us have breakfast," he said, taking her hand.

Ranalla was confused and shook her head to get it free. She had never felt so helpless, so completely ignorant and powerless. She had been the leader of her people, had determined its destiny, and now this man came and she felt like an inexperienced child in his presence. How could he do that with her?

He pressed her softly onto the chair she had been sitting on before. Then he took the belt with the sword from his shoulders and brought it to another table nearby. Ranalla noticed something on the scabbard of the sword from the corner of her eye, and when she looked there, she recognized with astonishment the sign of the Triforce. Her gaze lingered on it, until Ganondorf came back to the table and sat with his back to the windows opposite her.

"This is our usual breakfast, Madam," he explained. "It is grain that we soak first in water and then in fermented milk. You can eat fruit along with it if you like it sweet. I'll show you how it goes."

He put some cereal into a small bowl of his setting, then took a peach from the bowl on the table, and a knife. He cut the peach into small pieces, sprinkling them over the mash in his bowl. When he finished, he gestured to Ranalla to do the same.

She also put some cereal into her bowl and cut a pear into it. Then she took the spoon from beside her bowl, and tried. The fermented milk tasted tart and sour, but the fruit was a pleasant addition. The grains were soft, but had to be chewed well. Ganondorf looked at her, smiling, and began to eat too, once he had the impression that Ranalla liked the food.

She was thirsty and looked longingly at the jug on the table. Ganondorf noticed her gaze and nodded encouragingly.

"Please, help yourself, Madam. We drink the tea cold because it is always warm here."

Ranalla took the jug and poured some tea into her cup. When she tried it, she was surprised by the delicate, slightly sweetened taste. She smiled and returned to her bowl with the cereal.

Ganondorf ate silently and looked at her from time to time with a slight smile. She could not hold his gaze and looked embarrassedly into her bowl. When she had finished, she put her bowl on the table and drank the rest of her tea. Ganondorf's gaze met hers across the table as she set down her cup. He had also finished, and looked at her thoughtfully. Ranalla blinked and did not know what to do. Suddenly, he rose and came around the table. He stepped close to her, took her hands, and pulled her to her feet. Hissing whirls broke from his fingers, and his magic pressed against her with force. She breathed heavily and closed her eyes.

"Look at me, Madam," he ordered.

She opened her eyes and raised her gaze to his eyes.

"I can't make any sense of this, Madam," he said. "There is a tremendous magical energy in you, but you do not let it out. Why not? What is hindering you?"

His voice was urgent and he pressed her hands tightly. Ranalla jumped, startled. His magic reached for her, and she felt her own magic beating violently against its cage, but it could not break free.

"Please... Your Majesty..." she said. "I do not know what you want from me. I've been using my magic since I was five."

"Ah!" He snorted, dropping her hands with a jerk. "Your magic is like this desert, and you use a grain of sand! How can that be?"

"I... do not understand... Your Majesty. Why is it so important to you?"

He gasped and grimaced as if in pain. Then he seemed to have an idea, for he went to the table where he had placed his sword. He picked it up and laid the strap around his shoulders again, then turned to her.

"Can you fight with a sword, Madam?" He asked.

Like a flash of lightning, the memory of her last sparring fight with Impa shot through Ranalla's mind. The pain in her arm... Over two hundred years had passed since that day, and compared to Impa, she had been a beginner. But she could jump, and she hoped that this skill might still provide her a chance against him...

"Yes, Your Majesty," she therefore replied, trying not to show her fear. Ganondorf went to one of the cupboards on the wall of the door and pulled out another belt and a sword in a sheath. It was smaller than the one Ganondorf had on his back, but the long hilt offered space for two hands. Ranalla swallowed dryly because she had never fought with a two-handed sword.

As he came back to her, Ganondorf clipped the sheath to the belt. He put the belt over her shoulders, and she felt the soft touch of his fingers, but then again, as if naturally, they stroked over her breast and followed its curve. Her hand twitched and wanted to hold his, but he grabbed her hand with lightning speed and held it tight. Her heart pounded fiercely when she saw the gaze of a hungry predator in his golden eyes, and then he turned and pulled her with him.

"Come on, Madam," he said, walking fast to the door. He opened it and pulled Ranalla across several corridors and stairs until they reached the large entrance hall where they had arrived the previous evening. He went with her to the exit, and then they were standing in the bright morning sun of the desert. Ranalla looked around and let her gaze wander over the surroundings of the Temple.

The rectangular rock that contained the Temple nestled against a high wall surrounding a wide hollow. A slope in the back led to an elevated part of the valley, and from there opened the path to the Haunted Wasteland filled with sand-colored mist.

In front of the entrance of the Temple, Ranalla saw two thick, high stone pillars carrying a huge, hexagonal stone platform. Ganondorf pulled her down the steps, out between the pillars, until they came behind the great natural gate to a free area. There he released her hand and stood before her. With a special, skillful movement that amazed Ranalla, he drew the long sword from its sheath on his back and said:

"Defend yourself, Madam."

He did not wait for her to draw her sword. His blow came so powerful that his sword hit the ground with a loud _clang_ as Ranalla jumped to the side. She tried to pull the sword from her back, but had some trouble with it because it was too long for her arm, and while she dodged Ganondorf's blows, she wondered how he had done it so quickly.

She squirmed and pulled the sheath down with her other hand, then she finally had the heavy sword in her hand and could parry. There was a fierce glitter in Ganondorf's eyes as he continued to strike mercilessly at her. Ranalla continued dodging his blows and parried only when she could not dodge fast enough. He was so tall that she could even roll forward between his legs. But he was quick and agile despite his size, and she could not surprise him. He followed her with his blows, and after a while she realized that he anticipated her movements and hit where she dodged, so she had to change her strategy. She tried not only to dodge, but jumped upwards into the air or in an arc to the side. She saw him smile amusedly while he adjusted his movements. He learned very quickly, and she realized that he was cornering her. Soon, she had to retreat before his slashes, but he pursued her. His blows came faster, and she was no longer fast enough.

What was he doing to her?

Why did he want to fight with her and humiliate her? Her hands hurt and the sword was too big for her. Angrily, she threw it to the ground and wanted to run up the slope.

"Stop, Madam!"

She heard his order behind her, but she ran on furiously. Then she heard a loud, crackling hiss, and a blue ball of magical energy struck the ground before her and hurled the sand into the air. She stopped as if rooted, and panted with rage. She heard him approaching her and turned around. He had her sword in his hand and held it out for her.

"There is the barrier, Madam. It would have burnt you by a hair. Come on, take the sword and keep fighting."

She took the sword and threw it to the ground again.

"I do not want to fight anymore, Your Majesty!"

"Oh, yes, you do, Madam," he said, picking up the sword. He handed it to her with a scornful snort. A whirl broke from his hand as hers touched the sword, and she felt a wild impulse pour through her hand. Startled, she dropped the sword, but he simply laughed, turned around and went away.

"I don't know why I'm even bothering, Madam," she heard him say scornfully. "Perhaps your magic leaves more to be desired than I had assumed. Come to me, if you want to fight."

"Just wait, you pompous braggart!" Ranalla growled to herself and picked up the sword. Her anger gave her new courage, and she flew at him with a cry. She grabbed the hilt of the sword with both hands and slashed with all her might, but he just turned around and parried effortlessly. She slashed down at his legs, but he kicked her sword with his foot and hurled her to the side. Then he attacked her again and drove his sword down upon her from above, from below, and from all sides. Ranalla parried his blows with a determined look and tried to stand her ground. But he pushed her back again, and she realized that she was slowing down. Her eyes twitched feverishly, and she could barely follow his movements. Her arms were aching from the repeated strikes they had to repel, and she could no longer back off under his blows. He was so tall, and his strength pushed her down and stifled her. He hit her from above as she sank to her knees and parried his strikes over her head with both hands.

She could not go on any longer.

He was too strong, but she could not give up. He would put the sword in her hand again and fight against her until...

His blow came so violently that her hands twisted backwards and she dropped the sword with a scream. It fell behind her on the ground, but Ganondorf struck out again and swung his sword in a low, flat blow. She saw it hissing through the air, but she was kneeling on the ground and her sword lay behind her. She could not dodge, and she could not parry, and she saw the blade swinging toward her neck like a thin line of blue steel.

And then...

...time stood still, and the blade stopped in the air.

Slowly, Ranalla stretched out her hand and sent a whirl to the line that was the sword. The whirl grew and formed a blue, transparent wall in front of her, and time was racing again.

Ganondorf's sword hit the barrier with the full force of his blow, and an explosion of blue light and sparks hurled him backwards. His sword fell on the ground and he flew several paces through the air and landed on his back in the sand.

Ranalla was so surprised that she could not react. Her gaze wandered slowly from the blue barrier she had created to Ganondorf, who was standing up shaking the sand from his clothes. Then she looked again at her hand that had released the whirl.

Never had she done anything like this before. She had already built many barriers, protective barriers, camouflage barriers, blocking barriers, but never such a thing. In a fraction of a moment, her mind had stopped and her body had known what to do. She had been certain the blade would hit her neck and finish her life with a smooth cut.

If she did not do anything.

If she did not... stop time.

Had she really done it? Or had she been so fast that it had seemed that way for her?

While Ranalla was still gazing blankly at her hand, she heard Ganondorf's sword glide into the sheath with a long, hissing sound, and then she felt him step toward her. His magic raced and twisted with a thousand greedy arms around her magic. He bent down, took her hand, which she stared at, and pulled her to her feet. A blue whirl broke from her hand, and he gasped and threw back his head. Then he grabbed her waist with his other hand and pulled her to him with a jerk. His body was hard because all his muscles were tense. He was breathing heavily and pressed her tightly to him, and then Ranalla felt the fine touch of a connection.

Could it be this what he meant? Did she have to be in danger of death in order to use her full magic?

"You did well, Madam," she heard him say. "Now I can feel you. I knew it!"

He pulled away from her and raised her face to his. His eyes looked into hers, and what she saw stunned her, for it was pride.

Ganondorf bent down again and picked up her sword without letting go of her hand. He put the sword into the sheath on her back and pulled her with him.

"Come, Madam," he said. "I'll take you to your room so you can wash. If you want, Nabooru can bring you fresh clothes."

"No..." she said softly.

"Oh, do not be afraid, Madam," he laughed. "You have to be born as a Gerudo Sister in order to like the desert garb. We also have Hylian clothes here."

5

For the second time that morning, she washed her body. Nabooru had brought her a red tunic with dark trousers and had taken her combat suit away. When Ranalla finished, she went out through the door and found Nabooru waiting for her. She brought Ranalla back to the large room where she had eaten breakfast with Ganondorf.

The table had been cleared, and she was alone again. Curiously, she walked through the room and looked at its furnishings. On a table beside a chest of drawers serving as a partition, she saw a dark book along with a pen and an inkwell. She went there and opened the book. It was written in the language of the Gerudo, and the characters were unknown to her. A part of the book was still empty, and she suddenly wanted to be able to read this language. She wanted to know what he was working on.

The sound of the door being opened startled her again. Ganondorf stepped into the room, and he was also wearing fresh clothes. He came to her and took her hands. She felt the new connection to his magic, and closed her eyes as she shuddered. When she opened her eyes, he raised her face to his and said, smiling:

"It's a feeling that can make you addicted, Madam. But I want to give myself up to this addiction. I want to feel you, Madam, your complete magic. I want to help you awaken it. May I?"

"I do not know," Ranalla said uncertainly. "Why do you want to do that, Your Majesty?"

He took a deep breath, then pulled her with him to a sofa on the opposite wall. He sat on it and gestured to her to do the same.

"I think we need to talk about the reason you are here, Madam," he said, when she had sat down and looked at him questioningly. "You have not told me yet why you wanted to break into the Fortress."

Ranalla thought. She wanted to be honest without telling him the truth.

"Your Majesty," she said, "the moment your guards took hold of me, the purpose of my attempt to enter the Fortress dissolved. I cannot say more, but you have my word that you do not have to fear that I will flee or attempt an attack on you."

"This is not the answer I had hoped for, but I will accept it, Madam," he said. "You have probably noticed that I am living in this Temple practically alone. Apart from me, there is a total of four guards and my deputy Nabooru. The guards are not here because I need them, but because the Sisters in the Fortress are of the opinion that a king should have guards. The four Sisters are rather more like assistants who will help me when I have a guest, as it is now."

He was silent and looked at her face with serious eyes before he continued.

"I mean, Madam, that an escape attempt from this Temple would take you right to the barrier from which I rescued you before. An attack on my life would neither be of any use to you, because I can take care of myself, even without guards."

Ranalla swallowed.

"You could have killed me, or cast me into the dungeon," she said shyly, and the image of the cell from her dream appeared before her inner eye. "But you did not. Why?"

Ganondorf smiled and looked at her again for a long moment before he answered.

"The reason, Madam, is that in your person you unite three qualities that are almost unique in their combination: you are from the people of the Sheikah, you are magically gifted, and you are a woman. Your sister Impa, who lives at the royal court of Hyrule, was my only candidate so far, but she is out of the question for various reasons."

"Candidate for what, Your Majesty?" Ranalla asked. "Why do you need someone from the Sheikah people?"

Ganondorf looked at the bookshelves behind them and gestured to them. "You saw the books this morning that are written in Sheikah. I would like to study them, but I do not understand your language. I need you to teach me Sheikah, Madam."

Ranalla was surprised. She nodded slowly.

"May I ask how you got those books?"

"No, Madam," he said, smiling, and shook his head.

"What about the other two reasons? Why do you need a magically gifted woman, Your Majesty?"

He laughed and looked at her with bright eyes.

"Don't you know, Madam?" he asked.

She shook her head.

He came closer and put his hand to her cheek. His hand was warm, and she felt his magic gently reach out for her and surround her like an embrace. She closed her eyes as a violent shiver ran through her body, and she bent her neck, whimpering. When he withdrew his magic, she opened her eyes, and her body wanted to follow his magic... His hand wandered slowly from her cheek over her neck, her shoulders, and her arm to her hand. He looked into her eyes, took her hand, and brought it to his lips. Then he slowly closed his eyes, and she felt his lips and the tip of his tongue on her palm, while her fingers stroked across his cheek.

Never before had her lips been touched by the lips of a man, but since that enchanted moment on the bridge, when she had seen Ganondorf's tongue, she had been longing for his kiss. And now he had kissed her hand as if he had kissed her lips, and she almost lost her mind.

His expression was serious when he looked at her again and said:

"Because I want to make love to you, Madam."

Ranalla gasped in amazement and felt her hand tremble. Her mouth was dry and her whole body trembled with excitement, and she shook herself violently to resist his spell.

"You want..." she breathed. "But... you do not know if I..." She did not dare to finish the sentence.

"That's true, Madam," he said. "But I hope that I can make you want me too."

He let go of her hand and took a strand of her white hair. "I want to love you not only with my body and my mind, but also with my magic. And I want you to answer me, and that your full magic would be involved." He gently placed the strand behind her ear and took a deep breath that showed her that he was as excited as she was. "But not yet," he said in a soft, tender voice. "It's still too early. You are not ready yet. But soon."

He would not let her go. He wanted to learn her language and was determined to awaken her magic so that he could make love to her with her magic completely freed. How could she manage to let her egg cell be fertilized in the remaining five days, and flee from the Temple?

Suddenly, she felt something inside her revolting against the idea of leaving. It was her magic! It struggled and squirmed angrily in the depths of her being, and Ranalla realized with amazement that she would not flee. She looked at that strange, wonderful man before her, at his strong body and his beautiful face, and knew that she had wanted him since she had heard his voice out there on the bridge for the first time.

 _Oh, Rauru!_

Why had he not told her what the King of the Gerudo looked like? Had he not known himself? How could she fulfill her task if every fiber of her body yearned for this man? How was she supposed to leave him if her magic hurt her already at the mere thought? She wanted to feel his skin on hers, his hands on her body, the lips that had kissed her hand and her temple, and the tongue that had touched the middle of her palm... She wanted to know how it felt when her magic was fully awoken, how it felt to open herself to him, to be loved by his magic...

"I agree, Your Majesty," she said softly. "Thank you for telling me your reasons. I will try to teach you my mother tongue. When would you like to start?"

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Translations:

 _Risha, nentrij ri cedril._ \- Risha, give me some light.

 _Prelij stranen, versil sis ban elti, Risha. Nentrij elti nest ban bralis, lissu prelij Nabooru, at-spartis elti ban olnin, riit. - Tell the Sisters to be kind to her, Risha. Bring her something to eat, and tell Nabooru to wake her up at eight, please.  
_

 _Juun, ri-su ruad. - Yes, my King._


	5. Chapter 5

A/N: All right, here are some new chapters. I want to thank everybody who has read my story to this point.  
There will be some really passionate moments in these chapters, and they are for adult readers only.  
Enjoy!

Eaglechild

 **Chapter 5**

1

She had lunch with Ganondorf at the same table where they had eaten breakfast. It consisted of various vegetables, which were served with green leaves and the boiled eggs she already knew. There was again the cool tea.

Ganondorf had explained to her that the eggs came from a desert reptile called the sand lizard. But he had said nothing about the fresh fruit they had for breakfast, and the vegetables that they had now, and Ranalla did not dare to ask.

He ate his meal quietly but looked at Ranalla curiously from time to time. He seemed to want to find out if the food suited her. Ranalla was accustomed to a raw vegetable diet because it resembled the food she had eaten in the community more than two hundred years ago, so she simply took what was there. When she finished, she put her cup on the table and looked at Ganondorf, who had also finished his meal.

"Are you full, Madam?" he asked.

"Yes, Your Majesty, thank you," she said. "The food is very good. I feel revitalized."

He smiled and she saw joy in his eyes.

"Are you ready to start?" He asked as he rose and came to her. Ranalla nodded. He took her hand, and a whirl broke from his fingers and rolled over her arm, where it dissolved in her hair. Like the night before on the bridge, she felt his magic caressing her body. She directed her attention to his hand and his touch. His hand was firm and strong, giving her a feeling of security.

He led her out through the door, the corridors, and the large entrance hall of the Temple. The midday sun was warm, and Ranalla was surprised that it was not as hot as she had expected.

"Come, Madam," said Ganondorf, pulling her with him. "We are going for a walk. You can explain the basics of your language to me."

He turned to the left and began to walk in the shadow of the rock wall that bordered the Temple. They walked over hard rock, covered with a thin layer of sand.

"Before we begin," he said, "I would like to tell you some facts about myself. When I was a child, the Sisters taught me to speak, read, write, and fight. Everything else, such as the Hylian language in which we are talking, I learned from books that I got from different parts of the land of Hyrule. So I have experience in learning new languages. I will ask you many questions, and I would like you to tell me everything you know concerning their answers. Do you agree?"

"Yes, Your Majesty," said Ranalla.

"Let us begin with your name, Madam Ranalla," he said. "What does it mean?"

"It means _ray of light_ , Your Majesty," replied Ranalla. It is composed of the words _Ran_ , which means _ray_ , and _Nalla_ , which means _light._ Our language contains many words, Your Majesty, that have several meanings. The word _Ran_ , for example, can also mean _arrow_ , depending on the context, and the word _Nalla_ also means _sun_. In my name, the two consecutive N sounds were contracted into one, so it is written with only one N."

Ranalla felt Ganondorf press her hand.

"That is a beautiful name, Madam Ranalla," he said. "Next..."

"Wait, please, Your Majesty," Ranalla interrupted. He broke off and looked at her curiously. "Is there more?" he asked.

"No, Your Majesty, but... I would like to be able to speak with your Sisters in their language. Could you... While you are learning Sheikah, could you teach me Gerudo?"

Ganondorf stopped and looked at her in amazement. Then he smiled and said, "I would feel honored, Madam. What do you want to learn first?"

"How about the meaning of your name? You told me your name yesterday on the bridge. As far as I know, Gerudo Sisters have only one name. How come you have two names?"

Ganondorf went on again and kept her hand in his.

"There is a prophecy with my people, Madam," he began, "according to which a male Gerudo will be born every hundred years. It is based on an old legend that tells that every hundred years a god descends from heaven on a flying dragon, comes to the Sisters, and chooses one of them to bear his son.

"The word _ganon_ means _god_ in the language of the Gerudo; _male god_ , that is. The word for _goddess_ is _gani_. The word _dorf_ means _son_. So my first name means _son of the god._ The tradition demands that male Gerudo always become the kings of their people, and they therefore have a second name. My mother chose mine to honor the legend, and it means _the dragon's favorite._ The word _dragin_ means _dragon_ , and _drag_ is an old form of the second case, and means _of the dragon._ Nowadays, we would rather say _dragis._ The word _mire_ comes from _mirin_ , which means _love_ in our language. _Mire_ means _favorite_ or _beloved_ , Madam."

"That means your full name is translated _Son of the God, Favorite of the Dragon,_ Your Majesty?"

"That's right, Madam."

"Thank you, Your Majesty. Your name is very impressive, and I think it fits you."

Ganondorf laughed, then brought her hand to his lips and kissed it. "You flatter me, Madam," he said. "But let us go on. I would like to learn some more words. The parts of the body." He presented her his free hand.

 _"Dris,"_ said Ranalla. "The word also means: _I touch."_

 _"Dris,"_ he repeated, and she nodded. Then he pointed to her leg.

 _"Berdis,"_ she said.

"Does it have another meaning, too? _I walk?"_

"That's right, Your Majesty."

Eagerly he pointed to her head.

 _"Rauris."_

"Let me guess, Madam! _I think?"_

She nodded.

"Really?" he asked, amazed. "How can one distinguish between the different meanings?"

"In the spoken language, the meaning arises through the context, Your Majesty. In the written language one differentiates by the upper and lower case of the words. Names of objects or creatures, or of non-material things, are written with a capital initial letter."

"Ah," he said, then pointed to her lips.

 _"Sarini._ The singular is _saris._ From this word derives the verb _to kiss_ , Your Majesty. It is _sarix."_

"How would you say: _I kiss you?"_

 _"Wi saris,_ Your Majesty."

He smiled. Ranalla was happy that he was so curious.

"How do you call the eyes, Madam?" he asked.

 _"Sirnallani,"_ she said. "That is the plural. The singular is _Sirnalla."_

"Ah, the word for _light_ is contained in it, isn't it?"

"Yes, Your Majesty. The word _Sirnalla_ is composed of _Sir_ and _Nalla_. _Sir_ means _the seer_."

"The eye is thus the _seer of light_. And the verb _to see_? Is it _sirix?"_

"Yes, Your Majesty, you deduced correctly."

 _"Wi siris_ means: I see you. And _wi dris_ : I touch you _."_

She nodded, amazed that he was learning so fast. He wanted to go on, but she took his other hand in a flash of cockiness, and said:

"Now it's your turn, Your Majesty." She pointed to his hand.

"All right, Madam," he said, laughing. _"Revin."_

 _"Revin,"_ she repeated, then pointed to his leg.

 _"Solun."_

She repeated the word and pointed to his head.

 _"Dalat."_

"And the eye?"

 _"Rinnan."_

Ranalla began to repeat what she had learned.

"So, let's see. _Ganondorf Dragmire. Son of the God, Favorite of the Dragon."_ She showed her hand, then her leg, her head, and her eyes. _"Revin. Solun. Dalat. Rinnan._ And now you, Your Majesty."

 _"Ranalla. Ray of Light. Dris. Berdis. Rauris. Sarini. Sirnalla. The seer of light."_

"I am proud of you, Your Majesty," she said with a bright smile. He had memorized all the words right away and had pronounced them correctly. He had held her hand all the time, not letting it go for a moment. Now he stopped, put his other hand on her shoulder and pulled her closer to himself. Ranalla felt him send his magic to her and establish the connection she had sensed in the morning. It was delicate, but a shiver ran through her body as he pressed her to himself, and she felt his chest rise with a deep breath.

"So it is right, Madam," he whispered. "It will be even better when the rest awakes."

Her heart was beating wildly, and from his hand on her back came a whirl, slipping underneath her tunic. It split on the naked skin of her back and slid forward over her breasts in a warm wave like gentle hands. She backed away gasping, and her free hand ran over her chest, but the whirl dissolved. She looked angrily into his eyes .

He laughed as he met her gaze, then tilted his head to the side and looked at her with an amused smile.

 _"Wi siris. Wi dris. Wi saris,"_ he said with respective gestures to her eyes, her hands, and her lips. "Forgive me, Madam. You are so beautiful that I could not resist. Sometimes my magic simply obeys my wishes, and I can't do anything about it." He laughed again.

If she had not been so angry, and he had not been so strong, she would have thrown him on the ground and thrown herself upon him to tear off his clothes.

He pulled her back to himself and buried his hand in her hair. Then he bent to her ear and whispered:

"I will love you, Madam, with everything I have, when your magic has awoken. Tell me the word for _love_ in your language."

She breathed in and opened her mouth to speak, but then she had a bold idea. This would be her little revenge.

"I will tell you..." she began, raising her gaze to his golden eyes, "...later."

She saw the bewilderment in his face.

"But perhaps... you will find out for yourself, Your Majesty."

2

The first week passed, and on the evening of the seventh day, Ranalla, wistfully, said good-bye to her first egg cell. During the exhausting language lessons she had often thought about it, but she had dropped the idea of letting it be fertilized in the remaining time.

Ganondorf had been serious about everything he had told her. He ran a strict schedule and learned with such extraordinary zeal that after this short period of time they were already able to have short talks in Sheikah with each other.

Right at the beginning, Ganondorf had asked Ranalla to write down the basics of the grammar of her language, and had given her a notebook. He had her sit and write at the table where she had seen his book, that had now disappeared. She wrote the grammar in Hylian because she did not yet master the language of the Gerudo. Since Sheikah used the same characters as Hylian, it was easy for Ganondorf to read it.

Once Ganondorf had learned the first few hundred words, he took one of the books from his library and tried to read it. It was the book about the nature of magic that Ranalla had found on her first morning in the Temple. He made progress at a frantic pace, and after another week he set the rule that they would talk only Sheikah in the morning, but Gerudo in the afternoon.

With the hard mental work and the constant physical arousal in which Ganondorf kept her with his ever-recurring, seductive approaches, she was so exhausted on the evening of each day that she barely had the strength to wash her body in her little bathroom before she collapsed into her bed and immediately fell asleep. Her nights were filled with exciting, consuming dreams, where Ganondorf came to her and caressed her body, and more than once she awoke at night panting and with the overwhelming feeling of his arms around her. But every time, she found herself alone in her bed and cried herself back to sleep from desire and longing.

Already after the first week, Ganondorf had allowed her to move freely in the Temple and had showed her all the rooms she could enter. Many doors were blocked by a magical barrier that aroused a tingling sensation on her skin when she approached it. She could touch the barrier but could not penetrate it.

When she met Ganondorf's guards in the Temple, they treated Ranalla politely and kindly, and sometimes, with her new knowledge of their language, she could even have a little conversation with them. She learned their names, and with a little sting in her heart, she also learned that all four had already given birth to a daughter of Ganondorf. But she had reckoned with that, for he was the King, and the way he looked, the Sisters probably scrambled to get into his bed. Besides, she had realized that she had also fallen for him from the first moment she had seen him.

Sometimes, Ganondorf rode away with his four guards and did not return until late in the evening. On this morning he was also not there, and Ranalla had breakfast with Nabooru in the large room. Before, she had helped Nabooru prepare breakfast in the kitchen, which was on the same corridor. With Nabooru she spoke Hylian, for she had asked Ranalla to practice the Hylian language with her.

As usual, the breakfast consisted of the cereal mash, fruit, and cool tea, and Ranalla was chewing the soaked grains, lost in her thoughts. Finally, she asked:

"How many daughters does His Majesty have, Madam Nabooru?"

Nabooru smiled. "Many, Madam," she said. "Why do you ask?"

"Risha, Soliris, Keli, and Anit told me that they have all given birth to a daughter of His Majesty. Have all the guards who have worked for him born a daughter of his?"

She waited for Nabooru's answer with her heart pounding.

"No, Madam," said Nabooru, shaking her head. "But it is different from what you think. All the Sisters who have had a daughter with him, chose him."

Ranalla frowned, for she did not understand what Nabooru meant. Nabooru noticed her confusion and smiled.

"Do you know about our concept of _Choosing_ , Madam?" she asked. Ranalla shook her head, and Nabooru took a deep breath.

"Throughout history, a certain property has developed in the nature of our people, Madam. When a Gerudo Sister chooses a man as the father of her daughter, her body forms a certain substance we call the _Viss._ It causes the Sister to bond herself to that man until she has conceived. The entire behavior of the Sister is then determined by her fixation on that man, and she will do everything to get him."

Ranalla nodded, and Nabooru continued.

"Ganondorf is indeed our King, but first and foremost, he is a man like any other, apart from his magical Gift, of course. The daughters whom he has fathered were all fathered at the request of the Sisters, not at his own. And for every daughter he fathered, he had to undergo the test."

"The test?" Ranalla repeated.

"Yes, Madam," said Nabooru. "As you may have noticed, our tribe consists exclusively of healthy, strong, beautiful women. We have a strong interest that this remains so, and therefore we have a strict code that governs the choice of partners for the conception of a daughter. Each Gerudo Sister has to examine the man whom she has chosen. A suitable candidate must primarily be physically and mentally healthy. In addition, he must not be married or engaged, be at most twenty-eight years of age, and should have a certain degree of education. And of course, he should be able to fight.

"If the man passes this test, he may contribute to our community with his heritage. If not, the Sister in question must choose another man. For every Sister, it is a severe blow if she cannot have the man whom she has chosen. Some need a long time to get over it. That is why we are very careful in the choice of our partners, Madam."

Ranalla took a deep breath, and it seemed to her as if Nabooru's explanation had consoled her. But one question remained open.

"Have you..." she asked hesitantly, feeling herself blush. She swallowed and wanted to continue the sentence, but Nabooru smiled and shook her head.

"No, Madam," she said. "I am the deputy of our King, and I therefore often travel outside the desert. The father of my daughter is a kind man from King Nohansen's court. He is a very good fighter, and his father is the king's sword-master. He married last winter, and according to the Code I will have to choose another father for my next daughter. But rest assured, Madam, that it will not be our King."

Ranalla looked embarrassedly into her bowl.

"Forgive me, Madam Nabooru," she said softly. "I did not want to..."

But Nabooru laughed, and when Ranalla looked at her, she saw a loving expression in her face. She said:

"By the way, the process of _Choosing_ works in the same way with the male Gerudo, Madam Ranalla. I am certain that Ganondorf has chosen you. It happened probably already during his first encounter with you. But..."

Nabooru paused and looked away thoughtfully. Ranalla waited anxiously for her next words.

"It's different with him," Nabooru finally said, slowly shaking her head. Ranalla frowned.

"What do you mean, Madam Nabooru?" she asked, uncertain.

"Ganondorf is the first magically gifted male Gerudo," Nabooru replied. "There has never been magic in our people, and his case is unique in our history. His Gift seems to have a special effect on the bond. Obviously, his magic strengthens and tightens it."

Ranalla swallowed. Again, she waited with an anxious heart for Nabooru to continue.

"There is something serious, resolute in his eyes when he looks at you, as if he had finally found what he was looking for all his life. I have never seen this look with him before, and I can find only one explanation, Madam Ranalla. Somehow, the _Viss_ must have induced a _definitive_ bond in him."

Ranalla gasped, stunned.

"And you..." Nabooru continued with a smile. "You are not a Gerudo Sister, but I can see in your eyes that you chose him in the same way, Madam."

Ranalla's heart pounded loudly, and she looked again at the bowl in her hands while she felt her body become warm.

"You are the first woman whom Ganondorf has chosen in his life, Madam Ranalla, and he will not rest until you belong to him."

Confused, she raised her eyes to Nabooru.

"But then why..."

She broke off as tears came into her eyes, and she tried to blink them back. Slowly, she put down her bowl and covered her face with her hands. But then she felt Nabooru's hands on her shoulders, pulling Ranalla to her feet. Nabooru gently embraced her, and when she broke from her, she took Ranalla's face in her hands.

"What he does, Madam, is nothing else than what all Gerudo must do. He is testing you. But he has his own requirements, and as long as you do not meet them, he will restrain, even though he is longing for you so much."

3

After lunch, Ranalla was sitting at the table writing the grammar. She had already come a long way, and each day Ganondorf read greedily everything she had written. He also wanted to learn new words every day, which Ranalla wrote into another book for him. But he learned the most when she was talking to him. He wanted her to point out every mistake, no matter how small it was, and then he repeated his sentence so often until he had said it correctly.

At the soft sound of the door, she raised her eyes and saw him enter. He met her gaze immediately and smiled as he came to her.

 _"Rinnaju va, ri-su ruad,"_ Ranalla said in Gerudo, for it was afternoon. It was an old, respectful greeting that Ganondorf had explained to her, and it meant, _I see you, my King._

 _"Rinnaju va, Dern Cedris,"_ he replied to her, just as respectfully. He had translated the meaning of her name _Ray of Light_ literally to Gerudo and used that form when they were speaking Gerudo. As he approached her, she stood up and felt his magic coming to her. Then he stood before her and put his arms around her, and she heard him moan softly as he pressed her tightly to himself.

"I have longed so much to touch you, Madam," he whispered, and she shivered.

Why did he torture her like that? What could she do? She did not know how to awaken her full magic...

He pulled away from her and took her hand, as he liked to do.

"Come, Madam," he said. "We fight."

He took her with him to the wardrobe where he kept the swords. There he gave her the sword she had used on the first day, and put the belt with his sword over his shoulder. Ranalla hesitated.

"Do not be afraid, Madam," he said. "This time we are going to fight for exercise. I'll be fair to you."

She laid the belt around her shoulders, then he took her hand and pulled her through the corridors outside. She had not fought with him any more since they had begun with the language lessons, and she felt somewhat rusty. When they were outside, he pulled her sword from the sheath on her back and handed it to her. He drew his sword again in that quick, elegant manner she had seen him do on the first day. Then he stood before her, and said:

"Defeat me, Madam. I'll let you attack. If I defeat you, you will tell me the word."

Oh, he was such a braggart! What could she do against him, who surpassed her by more than one head? His long sword was almost as tall as she was. He stood calmly before her with his sword in his hand, waiting for her attack. Back then, in their first fight, he had attacked her immediately, and she had defended herself without thinking. But now she did not know how to attack him. She was completely intimidated by his size and his strength, which she knew by now, and already in their first fight he had anticipated her movements and had simply repelled her blows.

Cunning was necessary here.

She clasped the hilt of the sword with one hand and began to circle him. Smiling, he followed her movements and held his sword ready. Ranalla called her magic and raised her free hand above her head. She quickly built an invisibility shield around herself and the sword, and jumped. He raised his sword to parry her invisible attack, but she made a somersault in the air and landed behind him. He heard her land and quickly turned around, but she rolled between his legs. Her shield would last only a few minutes, but she wanted to enjoy it. She hoped that he would give her the advantage of magic and not call his own magic, for she would not have a chance. He felt her touch as she brushed his legs in the roll, and as she quickly rose, he turned around again. She stood in front of him and smiled. He did not see her, and she could see his searching gaze. She silently leaned forward and quickly ran her fingers over the curvature beneath the deep waistband of his pants. He gasped in surprise and slashed with his sword, but she ducked and rolled sidewards under his arm. As she rolled, she drew her free hand through the sand and took a handful of it. He had heard where she was rolling, and he slashed with his sword after her again. She jumped over his sword and landed on his other side. There she stood motionless and saw him turn around again. He had heard where she had landed, and she saw his listening gaze. In a few moments, the shield would dissolve. She bent down and threw the sand in a flat, long beam over the ground. He saw the sand, turned around, and made a low blow with his sword. His back was unprotected in front of her, but she wanted to strike him from the front. He straightened up and seemed to think for a moment. Ranalla saw the ornate sword sheath on his back, and something on it flashed in the sun. In that brief moment she recognized a thin, metal-lined slit, which led along the narrow side of the sheath from its top to half its length. So _that_ was how he had managed to pull his long sword so fast, even though it had been on his back!

She heard Ganondorf gasp softly as he understood her cunning, and he turned to her again. But before he could lunge out, Ranalla put the tip of her sword on his chest and pressed lightly. He froze, and at that moment, the shield dissolved. A small red spot appeared under the tip of her sword on Ganondorf's bright vest, and he laughed when he could see her again.

"That was fun," he said, laughing. "But tomorrow I will also use my magic, Madam. Then you will tell me the word."


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6**

1

Of course, she could not defeat him. He instantly severed every barrier that she built up, and he already seemed to know every trick she was using. At the end of the fight, he had swiftly knocked the sword out of her hand and had placed his blade on her chest. He had wanted to know the word, but she had not told him.

"But you promised," he had said, but she had only shaken her head with a sardonic smile.

"I did not, Your Majesty. You merely assumed that I would agree. But I will not tell you."

He had growled, frustrated, and given her back her sword.

Since then, they had fought every day. Ranalla realized that she was improving. She got used to the weight of the sword and wielded it alternately with one or both hands. She watched Ganondorf closely so she could get to know his fighting style and work on her strategy. In doing so, she realized that he was tall and strong, and also fast, but he did not like to dodge, and he did not leap. Instead, he used his magic to ward off her blows. At least he had not used any cunning or unfair attacks, and his fight consisted mainly of his defense against her attacks, which he predetermined for her. Ranalla noticed new progress every day, and that encouraged her to work hard.

Her Gerudo was also improving, and soon she needed to ask only rarely for a word. Her work on the grammar of Sheikah was approaching its end, and Ganondorf was now able to read the books in Sheikah with her dictionary. Every new word he found, she wrote down for him, and she had noticed that in the evenings, when they parted, he took both books with him. She guessed that he was reading before he went to sleep.

He learned with an eagerness that continued to amaze her, and one evening she realized that he had talked to her all day without asking questions and without her needing to explain anything to him. Only that one word she had promised him, he did not yet know. He had also stopped asking, for he had noticed that she never agreed when he tried to force it from her during their sparring fights.

After fighting with him for several hours without being able to defeat him, she was having dinner with him. She seemed to have reached a point that did not bring her any more progress. She was running on the spot and did not come any farther, and for several days in a row she had lost her sword again and again under his fierce grin, or had collapsed under his blows, panting.

On this day, too, she had been so exhausted after the fight that she would have liked to remain lying there on the sand, but he had grabbed her hand and pulled her to her feet. He had taken her to her room where he had told her to wash and then to eat with him. Ranalla had not dared to go to bed, but had washed herself with the cold water that wonderfully flowed out of the water line, and then she had felt a little more lively. Then she had gone to Ganondorf's large room, where he had been already waiting for her.

The usual raw vegetables with different leaves, fruit, and boiled eggs were on the table, and once more, she wondered where it all came from. She had been living in the Desert Temple for almost two months now, and had not found out.

"Where do the vegetables come from?" she asked. "They are fresh every day, and they taste excellent. And the fruit? I have not seen any garden, and no trees anywhere."

"If you want, I can show you," said Ganondorf. "After the meal. But only if you're not too tired, of course."

"I'm not..."

Ranalla broke off when she heard the door. Frightened, she looked there, for never before had anyone disturbed their meals. One of the guards stood in the door, and Ranalla recognized the eldest of them, Risha.

Ganondorf also looked at her, and she bowed.

 _"Ri-su ruad,"_ she said in Gerudo. "Forgive me, but you are required."

Ranalla looked at Ganondorf and saw that he pressed his lips together and narrowed his eyes.

"Excuse me, Madam," he said. "Wait for me, I'll come back to you." Then he got up and went out with Risha.

Thoughtfully, Ranalla continued eating from her plate. Ganondorf seemed to have known what was going on, and he had not been pleased about it. What was so urgent that he had to be fetched from dinner?

She finished her meal, and Ganondorf had still not come. He had told her to wait for him, and she could not leave. Outside, dusk fell, and it grew dark in the room. Ranalla went to the desk and lit the candles in the stand with her magic. She sat down and began to read the chapter of the grammar that she had written in the morning. When she had almost finished, Ganondorf returned. He saw the burning candles and came to her at the table. He seemed angry, as his face was serious and he was breathing heavily.

Ranalla waited until he had reached her. He took the book out of her hand and placed it on the table, then he took her hand and pulled her to her feet. She felt his magic strive toward her, and something wild and strict lay in it. Ganondorf looked around, then pulled her to the dresser, which was standing beside the table and served as a room divider. With a violent movement of his hand, he swept a pile of books from the dresser, then he seized Ranalla's waist with both hands, lifted her, and sat her on the dresser. He grimaced painfully and closed his eyes, and his breath trembled. Ranalla looked into his face, which was suddenly very close to her. His lips quivered and his eyes were grimly narrowed. She had never seen him like this before. A powerful chill ran through her body as he slowly parted her legs and stepped between them.

"Your M... Majesty..." she stammered. "What do you want to do?"

He came even closer, and panting, she closed her eyes and opened her lips to meet his. She felt his hands on her hair, and his lips nearly touched her as he whispered.

"Please, Madam, I beg you! Release your magic."

"I don't know how..." breathed Ranalla. "I would really like to, Your Majesty, but I don't know how..."

His hands broke from her and he backed away. Sighing, he covered his face with his hands. Ranalla's body trembled with excitement and desire, and she winced, as he suddenly moved his hands from his face to grab her waist. He took her down from the dresser and looked at the table where his food was still waiting. Ranalla wavered and had to hold onto the dresser. She closed her eyes and tried to soothe the unsatisfied, boiling desire in her body.

 _Do not leave me now!_

"Have you finished eating?" he asked. She blinked, confused, and nodded. "Then come, Madam. I'll show you the garden."

2

His magic was still with her, and he did not let the connection break. It wrapped her body like a soft cloak, while his hand, which was tightly closed around hers, pulled her with him. He was walking fast, and she struggled to keep up with him.

They went through many corridors and climbed stairs, and Ranalla had the impression that they were moving ever higher. At last, they were standing in front of a high staircase, and above was a broad double door, which was protected by a barrier. Ganondorf held her hand, climbed the stairs with her, and walked with her through the barrier. He opened the door and pulled her with himself.

The first thing she noticed was that they were out in the open, because somehow they had come to the roof of the Temple. It had now become completely dark, and as she looked up, she saw the stars glittering above her in the sky. Beneath her feet, she felt the same rocky ground covered with a fine layer of sand as she knew from below.

Ganondorf led her a few paces across the ground, then stopped.

"Up to here, Madam. There is the edge."

He pointed to the ground in front of them. Ranalla looked down, and in the light of the stars she saw the bottom of the valley, where she had sparred with him. Farther back, she could see a dark wall, where the unfathomable mist of the Wasteland began.

Ganondorf turned and led her in the other direction, toward the back of the platform. Another dark surface rose there, but as they approached, Ranalla could see details. A fine, blue glow lay before her, gleaming gently in the dark, and she recognized another magical barrier that was built there. Ganondorf passed it with her and raised his free hand. Several whirls broke from his fingers and hissed away in all directions. They settled in various places and glowed as incandescent lamps.

Ranalla looked around in amazement. They were standing in a forest with bushes and trees, and nearby she heard the murmur of water. At her feet she felt soft grass, and above her head she saw the leaves dancing in the gentle breeze. She looked behind her and saw that the barrier was just a high wall, but not a dome.

Ganondorf turned to the right and walked along the barrier on a path, and Ranalla noticed the sound of the water growing louder. Finally, they came to a shallow water basin, which seemed to have formed naturally in the rock. Several water plants were growing at its edge, and Ranalla saw some fireflies flying around in the air.

"This spring has its source in the rock farther back," said Ganondorf, pointing with his hand in the direction in which they had gone. "We have changed its course a bit, so it can irrigate the garden here. We have fruit trees and a vegetable garden, and our water also comes from here."

Ranalla was overwhelmed, and she gently pressed Ganondorf's hand.

"It is beautiful, Your Majesty," she said. He brought her hands to his lips and kissed them tenderly. At last, he smiled again, and Ranalla was glad that the tension had left his face. She would have liked to ask him what had happened before, but she did not want to spoil the moment.

"Come, I will show you around," he said, pulling her along the path. After a while, the path ran into the interior of the garden, and Ranalla saw beds with various vegetables mingling with other plants. They also passed fruit trees with ripe fruit.

"We brought the trees from different areas, Madam. Most of them bear fruit all year round and never drop their leaves. We also have nuts and berries. The only thing we buy from the farmers in Hyrule is grain, and we use the nuts to make milk. Often we do not even have to pay any rupees to the farmers, but we exchange fresh fruit with them in winter, as it always grows here."

They followed the path into the interior of the garden, and when they came around a natural hedge of different shrubs, Ranalla saw a large pavilion with its roof and support posts covered by a vine. The plant bore small, yellow flowers, which seemed to glow in the light of the magic lamps.

"What is that?" she asked.

Ganondorf laughed softly and took her with him. Another, narrower path led across a soft grassy surface to the pavilion, and when they reached it, Ranalla looked amazed. Behind the low walls, hidden by the vine, was a large, round platform, and in the middle of the platform stood a huge bed. It was flat and had no rests on the sides, and she gave him a puzzled look.

"Welcome to my bedroom, Madam Ranalla," he said.

3

Ganondorf pulled her to himself by her hand and embraced her. He pressed her tightly to his body and Ranalla felt her face warm as her excitement awoke again. His magic twisted around her, caressed her body, and called for hers, which struggled against its prison. He closed his eyes and moaned softly, and she wanted to let him in, open the door for him, because her body was already open and ready for him.

"Let it go!" he whispered in a demanding voice and breathed heavily. "Madam, let go of it! Release it, please!"

Slowly, she put her arms around him and pressed her body to his. She raised her face to his, opened her lips, and closed her eyes.

 _Please! Kiss me, Your Majesty... Please..._

She trembled, and the desire streamed through her body like a blazing fire. She wanted to unleash her magic, but she could not. She longed so much for him, and he... He would not kiss her. She wanted to stand on her toes and kiss him, but it would not suffice, he had to lean down to her. But what if he held her back?

Frustrated, she let her head sink to his chest. He left her waiting and did nothing... He just demanded! Why did he embrace her, stroke her, and caress her, excite her until she was mad with desire, and then...

Why did he torture her like that?

Her arms on his back cramped, and she spread her fingers and dropped her arms. Her body stiffened, and the desire within her, which was craving for fulfillment, was hurting and throbbing in the rhythm of her blood, which was pulsing like mad through her heart. She could not go on any longer; she could no longer endure this tension. With a jerk, she broke free from his arms and cried out.

"Aaah!"

She raised her hands with her stiff fingers and tense muscles as rage crawled into her veins.

"I can't!" she growled in her mother tongue, for she could not speak Gerudo when she was angry. "I told you, I can't! I do not know what to do! Why don't you understand?"

He took a step toward her, but she backed away.

"I can't go on anymore!" she cried angrily. "I'm going insane! Do something with me, anything, but do not wait any longer!"

She felt the rage in her body, it flowed into each of her cells and cut its way out. Ganondorf took her raised arms and held them tight, but she screamed and twitched under his grip.

"Let me go!" she cried, and she managed to loosen an arm out of his grip. She wanted to hit him, hurt him, and with all her might, she punched her fist at his chest.

"Quiet, Madam..." she heard him say, but his words only fed her anger. With another fierce jerk, she wrenched from his grip and jumped back, and her shrill cry echoed from the trees.

"Argh! I don't want to be quiet! You want my magic? I cannot give it to you, Your Majesty! It's inside me, and it sleeps, and _no one_ can wake it, neither you, nor I, NO ONE!"

"Let it out, Madam! Now! Come to me!"

She felt her anger raging over the shores of her mind. The prison bars seemed to loosen as her magic shook them with wild force. Suddenly, something broke loose and a part of it poured out. A violent tension came into her hands and she looked at them, frightened. They were glowing in a blue light that hurt her. She cried out in pain, and Ganondorf took her hands.

He was so close to her, and she wanted him! Her desire was a wild, captive animal within her, and she wanted to wrap her arms around his body, throw him to the ground, and throw herself at him, but he held her hands tightly. She wanted him to release her, release her hands, he had to! Blue glowing whirls burst from her hands and exploded in his. He screamed and let go of her hands, and she saw him throwing back his head and struggling for air. The unleashed beast rushed at him, whipping at his body while she screamed and cried with fear of what was happening to her.

And then her legs gave way, and she sank into a quiet river of darkness.

4

She was hovering in the air above a large bed, looking down. Two short, old women, who had the same narrow, hook-nosed face, were standing by the bed, looking at another young woman with long white hair, who was lying on the bed. Next to the woman sat a tall man with bright red hair that fell on his back to his waist. Such a beautiful man, with glowing eyes! He was stroking the young woman's forehead, and Ranalla saw an anxious expression in his face.

"Is she dead?" one of the two old women asked with an ugly, shrill voice. She spoke in a strange language, and Ranalla wondered that she understood.

"If she's dead, we'll have to get the other one from the castle," the other woman said with a similar voice. "Oh, it's going to be fun!"

"Be quiet, you two ugly, old chickens," the beautiful man hissed at them. "She is not dead, but she will soon be, if you won't be quiet. Go away!"

"What did you do with her? Has she opened?" asked the first woman.

"I did not do anything with her. She got angry."

"She has opened, I feel it," said the other. "But not enough. Something is still locked inside her."

"We can open her for you, Your Majesty," said the first again. "There is only a little part left."

"Woe, if one of you touches her!" the man growled menacingly. Ranalla dropped a little farther down and looked into his face. He was confused, and he was afraid, but his eyes were so beautiful, and his lips... she absolutely wanted to kiss them. She came closer to him and put her arms around his neck. But he turned again to the woman on the bed and gently stroked her cheek.

"I will awaken her magic myself. I know I can. I'll spar with her again tomorrow, and if she uses the new magic she can do it."

"Why do you linger with her so long, Your Majesty?" the first woman asked. "Fight with her, learn her language... You are even teaching her Gerudo! Why? We only need an hour to open her completely, then you can take her, as it was planned."

"Don't you understand? I want to do it right, my way! I have _chosen_ her, and she must meet all of my requirements. Mine, not yours!"

"We'll give you two more weeks, Your Majesty. If you have not managed to open her by then, _we_ will take care of her. We just need her body. When we have the child, she is redundant, anyway."

Ranalla had heard everything, and she saw anger flaring up in the man's eyes. He turned to the women, and his hands twitched as two blue fireballs came off his fingers and shot at the women. But they only lifted their hands, and the fireballs dissolved.

"Do not dare to deceive us, Your Majesty, for otherwise your sweet little Ren-Bird here will no longer be able to enjoy your body. Come on, Koume, let's leave the love birdies alone. Two weeks more or less in four hundred years make no difference."

They each produced a broom from somewhere, sat on it, and rose up into the air. Ranalla was curious and flew after them. They flew over the tops of the trees and then across the barrier.

"It takes too long!" she heard one of the women scold with her shrill voice. "Why did he bring her here at all? He should have locked her in the dungeon of the Fortress and impregnated her! Instead, he is playing with her and wasting our time! Why did you give him two more weeks?"

"Time will pass quickly, Koume. He will not manage to awaken her magic, and there is no better method than ours."

They were at the edge of the platform and floated down the high rock wall. In the light of the stars, Ranalla saw a huge statue of a goddess sitting in a niche of the rock. The two women flew on their brooms down to one hand of the statue where there was a passage. Ranalla followed them and entered a large hall with a red carpet.

"I've had enough of this waiting!" Ranalla heard the first voice that had spoken. "As soon as she is pregnant I want to prepare the drug. Immediately after she gives birth she must disappear!"

"Oh, be quiet, Koume," said the other woman. "In two weeks we'll get her and perform the ritual, and soon everything will be over."

"We could have performed the ritual today. We could have stunned him and done it there..."

"You're even more avid for him than the Sheikah!" the other woman interrupted her. "Did you have to enter her mind already in the first night? You have to stop creeping into her room when she is sleeping, or they will notice."

"I just wanted to give her a little boost, Kotake, in case she was not interested in him. How should I have known that she would fall in love with him at first sight? Besides, I was only there once, and I was invisible, no one could see me."

"But he can feel you, and maybe she can, too. It is too dangerous. He is quite fond of her, and if he has really _chosen_ her as he claims, he is under the influence of the _Viss,_ and therefore he is unpredictable. The way he behaves even suggests that the _Viss_ has induced a permanent bond with him. It must be due to his magical Gift. In any case, we must be careful."

They flew through many corridors until they came to a door in front of which Ranalla saw a dark wall. White and red streaks were swimming in the black substance, and the two women on broomsticks disappeared behind it. Ranalla wanted to continue flying, but suddenly she heard another voice that said her name.

"Madam Ranalla..."

It was such a loving, gentle voice, and she knew it belonged to the beautiful man she had seen upstairs. He called for her, and with joy she made her way back to him. But she could not find the way. She had flown through so many corridors, and there were so many doors and branches... Again she heard the voice.

"Madam Ranalla... wake up. Please, wake up, I cannot hold you anymore. You're slipping away." The voice sounded anxious and urgent, and she wanted to reach it. In panic, she flew through the corridors. Perhaps, if she flew upwards, ever upwards, for she had previously flown down from the top... She followed the corridors and took all the steps leading up.

"Please, Madam! Come back!"

Another staircase, and...

She remembered the way, for she had already gone it with him, with the beautiful man out there who had caressed that other woman. Why had he done that? She did not want him to caress another woman because he belonged to _her,_ she had _chosen_ him.

"Madam... Ranalla... where are you?"

There were the stairs, and there was the door. A bright wall was in front of the door, but she flew through and was outside. There was the forest, and the path, and the water, and the pavilion, and the bed, and the man, the beautiful, beautiful man...

And there was the woman. He stroked her, he caressed her. She wanted to be the woman he was caressing. She wanted to feel his fingers, his lips, his body...

She looked at him and saw his eyes glittering.

"Madam..."

He bent his body to the woman and lay his lips on hers. Ranalla flew to the woman and let herself fall. And she fell into herself, and with astonishment and wonder, she felt at the same time how his magic closed with a firm grip on her, and how his lips broke away from her.

5

She gasped and her eyes flew open. She had just been elsewhere, but he had brought her back with his strong hand, and with something else...

But then she suddenly lay on his chest, and he kissed her hair and pressed her to himself. Out of his body, a hot stream of burning magic poured around her body like a protective cloak. Carefully she let her magic flow to him and was overwhelmed by the intensity of the touch. He pressed her even closer to himself, and she felt his heart thumping as he groaned and gasped.

What had happened?

Something must have happened.

She could not remember.

"Oh, Madam Ranalla..." he said. His voice sent a shiver down her back. It was the voice that had called for her, which had brought her back from the darkness.

He pulled away from her and looked at her. These eyes... they had been angry, but also confused and anxious about her... And those lips... Slowly she raised her hand and touched the lips she had felt for a fraction of a moment on hers.

So short... so delicate... and so beautiful...

She tried to speak.

 _"Sarini..."_

"Yes, Madam," he breathed. Again he pressed her to himself, and she felt that he was trembling. "I thought I had lost you," he said softly with his face on her hair. "But you came back!"

She tried to remember his name. It had been something with gods, and with dragons.

 _"Lorin ill Deron..."_

He paused and looked at her in astonishment.

"What did you say?"

 _"Andyr ill Serok."_

That was his name. He was the son of the god, the beloved of the dragon. But something was wrong. The words had been different; less, and different. She thought feverishly. Why could she not remember? They were his words, they came from him, he had told her, somewhere, at night, on a bridge.

 _"I am Ganondorf Dragmire, King of the Gerudo, and lord of this place, which you wanted to enter. May I now know your name?"_

"Ranalla," she said. _"Natris Ranalla."_

"Yes, Madam, that's true."

She had understood him, although he had spoken differently now...

 _"Natrili Lorin ill Deron..."_

 _"You are... the Son... of the God..._ Yes, Madam, that is me."

 _"...Andyr ill Serok."_

 _"Fire of the Dragon?_ Do you want to try to say it in Gerudo, Madam?"

Yes, she could do that. That was easy.

 _"Sijes Ganondorf Dragmire..."_

At the sound of her words she jumped, and then she was back. The world turned with the sky up and the ground down, and she remembered.

"I know now..." she said slowly, and he smiled. His eyes shone, and she felt the connection to his magic. That was what happened.

"My magic..." she breathed, and saw him nod eagerly.

"Yes, Madam Ranalla. You have freed another bit of it. But you fell unconscious, and I could no longer feel you. Please forgive me, Madam. I was careless..."

He pulled her head to his shoulder and slowly stroked her back while his magic caressed her. She felt her eyes close and her muscles relax.

 _Sleep..._

Her clothes disappeared, and she was lying under a warm cover, and at the edge of her mind, she felt a presence on the other side of the cover, that protected her and watched over her sleep. It would also protect her from them... from the ugly birds on the flying broomsticks...


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7**

1

"Use your magic, Madam!"

She flew through the air and slashed at his head with her sword. He struck his sword against hers, and the force of the blow hurled her several steps away into the sand. She hit the ground hard and bright lights danced before her eyes as the air left her lungs.

"Come, Madam, stand up!"

She did not want to go on anymore. She was hungry and she was sweating, and her clothes were sticking to her skin. She felt empty, drained and exhausted. The sun darkened as he stepped before her and offered her his hand. When she did not move, he took her hand and pulled her to her feet. Sullenly, she looked up at the sun. Since they had begun, the sun had wandered a long way and was now in the middle of the sky. Ranalla put her hand above her eyes and looked longingly toward the place above the head of the great statue, where the cool water was rushing in the dark shade of the trees.

In the morning, after she had freed a new part of her magic, she had awoken amazed in Ganondorf's bed in the pavilion on the roof of the Temple. He was sitting on the edge of the bed beside her and was stroking her cheek. She wanted to get up, but she realized that she was naked under the covers. Frightened, she pulled the sheets to her chest and covered her breasts, and Ganondorf laughed.

"Do not worry, Madam," he said. "Nothing happened. After you fainted yesterday, I did not want to let you sleep alone in your room. I stayed with you all night, but I did not touch you. At least not with my hands, although that was not easy." He laughed again as he saw her frowning. "I've only touched you with my magic, Madam. That's all."

She snorted and looked for her clothes. He leaned down to the floor and picked them up, and underneath them was a towel.

"Go wash in the water basin, Madam. I will wait for you." She stared at him. "If you think that I will turn around, you're unlucky, Madam. Just think that I am rude."

He raised his eyebrows shrugging and Ranalla snorted again. As she overcame her shame and peeled out of the sheets, she wondered what she would have done if he had come with her to the pool. She noticed that he was looking at her body with undisguised pleasure and was following her every move with an appreciative smile, while she first put on her trousers and then the tunic. She realized that it was easier for her to look at him, and she remembered the fight where she had surprised him with the short touch on his most sensitive spot. He was sitting relaxed on the edge of the bed, leaning back on his arm, and when she took the towel out of his hand, she threw a quick glance to where she had touched him. He held the towel firmly and forced her to look into his eyes.

"That was a bold move, Madam," he said, and his smile made her shiver. But she knew that she had accomplished what she had wanted. Satisfied, she took the towel and went on the path across the grass, and continued to the water basin.

After breakfast, he had put the large sword into her hand again and had brought her outside. They had sparred for almost four hours, and he had not allowed her any rest. She had had to use the new part of her magic to ward him off, to support her jumps, to reinforce the strength of her hands on the sword, to deceive him, to make herself invisible, and to build barriers again and again, when she was not fast enough with the sword.

She had learned how to deal with the new magic and use it effectively. After a few days, she could call the new part without having to concentrate on it. When Ranalla had learned how it worked, it just came to her and she could use it without thinking. It was as simple as breathing. Only sometimes did she forget to do it, when she was exhausted.

"You did not use your magic, Madam," he reproved her. "I could fend you off easily. Come on, try again."

"Your Majesty..." she dared to protest.

"I will not let you go, Madam. Only if you do it right."

"All right then..." she muttered.

He was tireless. How did he manage to do that?

He stood before her and waited for her attack. She circled him slowly and called her magic to support her leap. While she also sent her magic to her hand to increase its power for the sword, she had an idea. It was worth a try.

She went to her knees as if she were about to jump, then she stretched her knees quickly and jumped up. She did not jump at him, but she raised her free hand and sent a hissing blue whirl to his chest. He raised his arm with the sword to ward off hers, but he noticed too late that he had been deceived, and the whirl hit him with all its power, and hurled him to the ground. The sand whirled up as he slid several steps across the rocky ground and stopped, laying on his back. She went to him and stood so that her shadow fell on his face.

"I'm hungry," she said. "I would like to eat, and wash myself, and rest, Your Majesty, and perhaps to have a little talk in Gerudo with you, if you like. But I will not touch this sword again until tomorrow."

In the evening, she was alone in her room with the high window. The new part of her magic that had been awakened had brought her closer to Ganondorf in a strangely intimate way. When he was close to her and they were not sparring, he almost permanently held the connection to her magic. It was now no longer just a fine, tender beam, but a strong strand, like an unbreakable rope that bound them together. He kept touching her tenderly when they were learning the languages, or when Ranalla was working on the grammar, which she had almost finished. Her body reacted with strong sensations to his tenderness, and again and again she remembered the feeling of his lips on hers, which she had tasted in the brief moment of her awakening.

Why had he kissed her? Had he hoped to bring her back? She would have liked so much to feel him longer...

As she reveled in that feeling and in her longing for him, her mind remembered the task she still needed to accomplish. So far she had not dared to prepare another egg cell for the Treasure. But with her newly awakened magic, the moment when she could finally be together with Ganondorf seemed to be within reach. He had become so confident, and was impelling her with untiring zeal to use her magic.

Since her body had dissolved her first egg cell unfulfilled, almost two months had passed. The new cell would take a week to mature, after which it would be ready for another week before her body would lose it again. She thought she could risk it.

Ranalla had now been living in the Desert Temple for two months. The cell would need a week to mature, after which it would be ready for another week, and then her body would dissolve it again. She thought that she could risk it.

With the delicate memory of his lips on hers, she relaxed her body under the covers and instructed it to prepare an egg cell. Her body immediately set to work, and full of longing and anticipation, and with the knowledge that she would soon be in his arms, after he had made love to her with his wonderful, beautiful, strong body, she fell asleep.

2

 _When she heard the footsteps, she directed her gaze to the place next to her, where the tiny light spot lay, the only light that fell into her cell during the day. In the rock that formed the ceiling of her cell, there was a gap through which the sunlight shone. The point was not to be seen, so it had to be night._

 _The steps were very close now, and Ranalla knew he was about to turn around the corner. She leaned back against the wall, closed her eyes, and let her head sink to her chest._

 _He seemed to stop for a moment before he entered the room. Through her closed lids she perceived the sudden brightness and winced. The hot wave of terror streamed through her body, and she hoped that he had not seen her move. She heard him take a step in her direction and then stop._

 _She had closed her eyes because she had hoped that he would leave when he saw that she was asleep. But now, as if from a distance, she felt the presence of his magic, and curiosity mixed with her fear. What did he want from her? Why was he coming without his guards?_

 _Again she heard his steps, and felt his magic approach. With the steps the light came also closer, until it finally stopped in front of her cell. She heard him put the crackling torch into the holder on the wall and noticed that her eyes were adapting to the light through her closed eyelids. She heard the sound of the bolt that was pushed aside, then the squeak of the gate, which opened._

 _As he entered the cell, she felt his magic on her skin and shuddered. With a beating heart, she forced herself to keep her eyes closed, while the fibers of his magic pushed toward her, crawling like greedy snakes across her body. He stopped in front of her, and in the coolness of the cell, she felt his warmth, despite the distance which separated them._

 _"At-spartij," he said._

 _Again, she winced when she suddenly heard his voice, and in a hidden part of her consciousness she wondered that she understood what he wanted. She opened her eyes and her gaze fell on his feet, in the heavy boots she had recognized immediately. Slowly, she straightened up and took in the sight of his figure._

 _As always, he was wearing dark trousers with a deep waistband and a short, light, sleeveless vest that was open at the front. She could see his tension in his stiff fingers, although she heard his calm breath. When her gaze came to his face, she saw that the front strands of his hair were open and behind his ears. This was unusual. Had he been sleeping already? Maybe that explained why he had come without his guards?_

 _"At-spartil siju," she said._

 _His eyes looked at her undecided, and she wondered. She had not yet seen this expression in his face._

 _"What do you want, Your Majesty?" she asked him in Sheikah._

 _"Why did you not tell me, Madam?" he asked with the same polite words he always used when he was speaking to her. Ranalla smiled inwardly, as she heard him speaking in her own language._

 _"What do you mean, Your Majesty?" she asked._

 _"You know exactly what I mean," he said, coming closer._

 _Ranalla lowered her gaze, confused. She did not know. Had he figured out where she came from? Did he know about her task?_

 _Her gaze remained fixed on the bright clasp of his trousers with the red sign of the Gerudo shining in the dim light of the torch. Then a movement of his fingers caught her attention as he slowly raised his hand. Her gaze followed his hand, which continued to rise, up to her face. He put his hand to her cheek, and his fingers went back to her neck while his thumb stayed in the front and gently stroked her skin. Suddenly his fingers pressed the back of her neck, and his thumb pushed her cheek bone upwards. Her head leaned backwards, and she had to look at him, but she only caught a quick glance at his face before she..._

.

She awoke from the dream with a feeling of dissatisfaction. He had come to her again, and this time the dream had continued. She knew that it would have gone further if she had not awoken, and she had the impression that it was hiding an important secret, a revelation she was seeking desperately.

As she tried to remember, gentle sounds entered her consciousness, and she straightened in surprise and listened. It was a slow, soft melody, accompanied by lower tones and interrupted by fast, lively ornaments. Had she woken from that?

When she was about to get up, she noticed that special feeling in her body that told her that the egg cell was ready. A week had passed since she had instructed her body to form it, and now she had another week to let it be fertilized. After that, her body would dissolve it and she would have to wait another while.

She went into the bathroom and noticed that the music was louder there. So it had to come from somewhere near. Quickly, she washed her body and put on her tunic, which she alternated with her combat suit.

Since she was allowed to walk alone in the Temple, Nabooru no longer came in the morning to pick her up, but just gently knocked at Ranalla's door to wake her. Ranalla had not heard the knock yet, and through the window she saw that the sun had just risen. Because of the music, she seemed to have awoken earlier than usual.

She stepped out of the door and listened to the sounds. She followed them through the corridors until she had found the door behind which they could be heard. It was a door that was usually locked by a barrier.

Ranalla stepped closer and carefully turned the door knob. It moved silently, and the lock snapped open with a soft click. Slowly, she pushed open the door and the music was suddenly louder. Curiously, she stepped in and looked around. She was standing in a large, bright room, furnished like a workshop. In the shelves on the walls she saw various tools and devices, and on the floor were boxes with pieces of wood, bars, and planks.

To the left of the door she saw a large structure with several sections of upright, shiny metal pipes of various sizes and thicknesses, all of which had a flattened opening at their lower end. Ganondorf was sitting on a small bench in front of the structure, and his fingers were running across the keys of a keyboard. His legs were moving, too, and Ranalla noticed another keyboard with big wooden keys on the floor in front of the bench, and Ganondorf played them with his feet. Every now and then he pulled with his hand at the levers next to the upper keys, and the sound of the music changed.

Ranalla was overwhelmed. Ganondorf was sitting with his back to her and had apparently not noticed her. He was playing self-forgotten on the instrument, and Ranalla felt pride and admiration fill her heart. Cautiously, she sent her magic to him and met his, who gently welcomed her. He inhaled deeply when he felt her, but continued to play. Ranalla went to him and stopped behind him. She put her hand on his head and stroked his hair. She saw him close his eyes and felt him leaning into her touch as he continued to play.

Then he had finished the piece and turned to her.

 _"Rianili Jutar, mil Adna,"_ he greeted her softly in Sheikah and put his arms around her waist.

 _Greet the morning, my Lady._

His face lay on her chest, and he pressed her tightly to himself, and with a deep breath he inhaled her smell.

"You sent your magic to me for the first time. That was a wonderful feeling, Madam."

Timidly, she put her arms over his shoulders, around his body, and closed her eyes. On his back, her fingers intertwined with his long hair, and in her imagination she leaned down to his face and kissed his lips. She could have done it, she had the right height in this position, but she feared that he could hold her back. As always, when she touched him, she shuddered as longing took possession of her body. She had to distract herself, open her eyes...

"What is this?" she asked.

He broke away from her and stood up from the bench.

"It's a musical instrument, Madam. It's called an organ."

"Where is it from?"

"Nobody knows where they originally came from, Madam," he said. "But I built this one myself."

Ranalla's eyes widened, and he laughed.

"This is one of the advantages of being King, Madam. I need only to express a wish, and my Sisters hasten to fulfill it. However, I prefer to fulfill my wishes myself, if possible. The Sisters set up the workshop and procured me the materials. The building I did alone."

Ranalla nodded approvingly.

"Do you want to have breakfast, Madam? You are awake early today, but I suppose that was my fault, am I right?"

"Yes, Your Majesty," she said, "but it was a nice way to wake up."

Ganondorf laughed and put his arm around her shoulders. Again he pressed her to himself, then he took her hand.

"Why is the barrier open today, Your Majesty?" Ranalla asked curiously.

He smiled.

"I wanted you to come to me, Madam. I wanted you to find me and send me your magic. I'm glad it worked."

Ganondorf pulled her through the corridors to the large living room where they had breakfast. Then he rode away with his guards and promised to be back at noon.

Ranalla was sitting at his desk and was writing the last lines of the Sheikah grammar. When she finished, she flipped to the beginning of the book, where she had kept a page to write the title later. She had written the grammar in Hylian and therefore wrote the title in Hylian as well:

 _The language of the Sheikah_

Below, she wrote the title again in her native language:

 _Terini ill Sheikah_

When she wanted to write her name, she had an idea. She wanted to have a little fun, so she wrote her name with Hylian characters in Gerudo under the title:

 _By Dern Cedris_

Smiling, she closed the book and left it on the table. She still had some time before lunch, and decided to explore the Temple and get acquainted with the paths. At first, she tried to find the way to the roof. She found it by climbing all the stairs, and then she was in front of the double doors with the barrier. She would have liked to climb up and wander through the forest. But the barrier would not allow her to pass, and she wanted to take advantage of the rest of the time that remained until Ganondorf's return – and until the inevitable sparring that would follow lunch. So she went all the way down again and tried to go to the double doors from different points of the Temple. She found a central point from which she could reach all the other rooms: her bedroom, the living room, and the room with the organ. From this point, she just had to go to the right and up the next staircase several times.

When she was sure that she could find the way to the double doors from anywhere she had been, she went out through the large entrance hall and sat down on the steps to wait for Ganondorf. The steps lay in the shadow of the giant stone gate, and she could observe her surroundings without being dazzled by the sun. She looked up at the platform and wondered if there was a way to get up there. From up there, one would surely have a good overview of the entire valley.

She turned her gaze back from the platform and peered between the two natural support beams to the foot of the embankment, where the barrier began. She could not see the barrier, and in a moment of audacity, she wondered if there really was one at all.

Slowly, she stood up and strode between the pillars toward the slope.

If the barrier was there and invisible, Ranalla would not see it even when she opened her senses, because she could only intensify the impressions of her existing senses. Still, she dared to try. When she had stepped out of the shadow of the stone platform, she stopped and strengthened her senses with her magic, but she could not see anything but the radiant presence of the sun at zenith. As she went on, she tried to remember where she had been when Ganondorf's blue ball of magical energy had stopped her on the first day.

She went on and on until she had almost reached the foot of the hill. She was afraid to go farther, but she had to know. Slowly, she raised her foot and placed it in front of her on the sandy ground. She reached out a hand, shifted her weight, and wanted to lift the other foot...

Then the pain hit her!

She cried out, for a piercing fire ran through her body and made it tremble. Her hand felt as if it had been cut off, and she backed away and fell to her knees in the sand. On her hand, she saw scalded skin that glistened pink on her fingers. The pain was overwhelming, and she screamed and held her hand to her chest.

"Madam!"

As she looked to the embankment, she saw Ganondorf descending from his horse. He ran down to her and took her in his arms. Tears came into her eyes and she cried with pain and relief. He pressed her to himself and consoled her with soft words, then he lifted her into his arms and carried her back to the entrance. He sat her on the steps and knelt in front of her. She heard the guards coming up on their horses and descend in front of the Temple.

Ganondorf took her hand and examined it. It hurt so much that Ranalla was squirming and screaming at each of his touches.

"Please, Madam, be quiet, I need to concentrate," he said.

Ranalla became sober immediately, and paused with her mouth open.

What was happening now?

Ganondorf closed his eyes and took a deep breath. When he opened them, he held his hand in front of her and laid her hand on it. Then he put his other hand on hers, and her hand now lay between his two hands. He closed his eyes again and slowly bowed his head. Ranalla noticed that he held his breath, and then she felt something happening with her hand. It became warm, and she felt a fine vibration in it. The warmth was pleasant, and the vibrating tickled, and she struggled not to flinch. She held still, and after a few moments, Ganondorf raised his head with a long gasp and opened his eyes. He took his hands from hers, and Ranalla realized that the pain had vanished.

She lifted her hand from his and looked at it in astonishment. The skin was completely restored and healed, as though it had never been injured. Ganondorf took her hand and kissed it, then pulled Ranalla to her feet and pressed her to himself. He raised her face to his and said:

"You cannot see it, Madam, but it is there. I hope you could convince yourself. Please...", he closed his eyes and shook his head. "Please... do not try this again. I do not know whether I can heal you if you suffer a major injury."

"Why is it burning like that?" Ranalla asked. "All the other barriers you have built... they do not hurt. But this one..."

"It's a different kind of magic, Madam. It reacts to my blood. All other beings are severely injured or even killed when they are touched by it. I can build various barriers, and I do it where it is necessary. But they only prevent from passing. I do not want to hurt anyone."

"But this barrier does, Your Majesty. Why?"

"Because..." He thought, then finally shook his head. "Because it does not come from me, Madam. Please do not ask any further. I cannot tell you more."

His magic came to her and connected to hers, and only then did she realize how much she had missed him.

3

After lunch, they sparred again. Ranalla used her additional magic and could corner him a couple of times. But over and over again he succeeded in repelling her despite her intensified strength, and again she felt that she was running on the spot. Finally, after a few hours, he came to her and stepped close to her. A dark expression was in his face, and his jaw was twitching menacingly.

"Madam!" he said. "I've had enough of these games. I want you to use your magic properly. I will now dissolve all the rules we have had so far, and use my full magic against you. You do not have to defeat me, but I want you to resist me, with all your might, do you understand me?"

Ranalla nodded hesitantly. She had used her magic, but he already knew her too well. It was as if he could guess her thoughts. She could not get near him.

He stood in front of her at some distance and raised his free hand jerkily. A ball of blue fire burst from it and flew toward Ranalla. She was not fast enough, and the violent blow threw her to the ground. As she clashed on the rock, she saw the next ball out of the corner of her eye. She rolled to the side and it hit the sand beside her. She jumped up and ran to the side as another ball flew to her position. Quickly, she glanced at Ganondorf, but his face was like a rigid mask and showed no emotion. Another ball came up, and she dodged and ran to Ganondorf with her raised sword. He threw a ball at her, but she jumped over it and slashed with her sword. He parried with his sword and attacked her.

"Use your magic!" he ordered. "You do not use it. I will hurt you!"

The next fireball hit her chest as he attacked her. She fended off his sword, but the ball hurled her away from him. He came toward her, throwing several balls one after another, which kept hurling her farther and farther away. She felt her skin being abraded by the rocky ground, and her limbs were aching from the recurrent impacts. The balls came so fast that she did not have time to roll sideways. Everything hurt her.

"Use your magic!" he cried sternly.

What should she do? She could throw fireballs as he could, but she was not so fast. It took her longer to summon them, and she would never reach him. She had to think of something else. As he paused to get closer to her, she took the chance and called her magic to make herself invisible. Quickly, she ran sidewards and saw the two stone pillars on which the platform was resting.

She had an idea.

He was not close enough for more fireballs, and he could not see her. She knew he could make her visible again with his magic when he found out where she was. But she did not want to give him that chance. She called all the magic she had at her disposal to reinforce her leap. Then she bent her knees and jumped.

Surprised, she landed on top of the stone platform at the moment she became visible again. She quickly made herself invisible and crept quietly to the edge of the platform to peek down. Ganondorf had reached the place where she had been standing before, and was looking for her. He threw wide, magical whirls in all directions to make her visible again.

"I will find you, Madam!" he cried aloud.

A plan rose in Ranalla's mind, and she looked around. On the ground of the platform were small pebbles, and she picked up some of them. When Ganondorf turned his back to her, she called her magic and threw a pebble on his back. He turned around looking for her, but he could not see her. She threw another stone and let it fall a few steps away from him. He threw a whirl to the stone, but it went into the void. Ranalla threw another stone, a few more steps away. Ganondorf followed the stones, and Ranalla threw one so that he had to turn his back to her in order to see it. She threw a fireball at his back and heard his scream as the ball hit him unexpectedly. He turned and threw a whirl behind himself.

Her shield dissolved, and she quickly moved back from the edge of the platform to make herself invisible again. Then she went back to the edge and looked down. He had not seen her yet and was still looking for her.

"Reveal yourself, Madam!" he cried.

"You wanted me to use my magic, Your Majesty," she murmured to herself, throwing another pebble. Ganondorf followed it and moved slowly to the place where Ranalla wanted him to be. Another stone, then he was on the right spot. She threw the stone, and he turned his back to her. Ranalla felt the shield fade.

It had to be _now_.

She dropped from the edge and called her magic to slow her fall. Silently, she landed behind his back the moment she became visible. He was holding his sword in his hand, but his arms were on his body. With a quick dart, Ranalla jumped on his back and wrapped her legs around his chest. Quickly, she put an arm around his neck, and with her other hand, she brought her sword to his throat.

"You are dead, Your Majesty," she said at his ear.

He was so stunned that he laughed. He tried to raise his arms, but Ranalla had twisted her legs in front of his chest, and he had no chance. His sword fell to the ground and he shook his head chuckling.

"You got me, Madam. I give up. Let me live, please, for I am proud of you."

4

In the evening she was lying in bed alone again. Alone, alone, alone...

Her body was desperately waiting for its fulfillment, and she was painfully aware of the matured egg cell in her body.

After she had defeated Ganondorf, he had been even more affectionate to her. All evening she had felt his magic, like arms that surrounded her and stroked her. A thousand shivers had been running over her body, and she could hardly speak to him at dinner. She wanted him so much, and more than once she had almost told him, but she feared that he could reject her.

How could she unleash her full magic? She knew he was waiting for it and that he wanted her just as much as she did, but he wanted her only with her complete magic.

As she fretted over her helplessness, she remembered the peculiar dream she had awoken from in the morning. She had been locked up in a dungeon cell, and Ganondorf had come to her. In her dream, she had been afraid of him, but a mysterious desire had caught her when she had felt his magic. What did that mean? He had touched her cheek and tilted her head back. For a moment, she had seen his face, and then... She closed her eyes and tried to remember – and amazed, she found the feeling that she had felt at the brief touch of his lips after her blackout.

Had he wanted to kiss her in her dream?

She wanted to dream on. Smiling, she gave herself in to the memory of his warm lips on hers and tried to fall asleep.

But after a long while, she was still awake. Her body seemed to be charged with a strange, wild energy that she had never felt before. She guessed that it was related to the matured egg cell in her body. Her muscles tensed again and again, causing her body to rear up, and she had to force herself to relax and not to scream. She rolled from one side to the other in her bed, crushed her pillow and sheets, threw both away and brought them back again, but sleep would not come.

She had no distraction in her room. Maybe if she got something to read...

In the soft light of the stars, she rose and put on her pants and tunic. Then she opened the door and sneaked into the corridor. Torches illuminated the corridors, and everything was quiet as she walked to the living room on bare feet. She knew that the door made a sound when it was opened, and she tried to turn the knob as quietly as possible. When the lock snapped open, she held her breath and listened, but nothing happened. She was about to open the door, when she heard a noise in the corridor. Again, she held her breath and stepped back.

She heard a low chuckle, and she did not recognize the voice. She took a torch from a bracket in the corridor and followed the voice carefully. Farther back, she heard a giggle, but she could not see anything. Something seemed to lure her there. She turned around the corner and heard the giggling again. In this corridor, all doors were closed with a barrier, and she did not know it. She wanted to turn around and go back, but at that moment something heavy hit her on the back of her head, and she collapsed. As she fell, she heard the giggle again, and oddly enough, now it sounded double.

Then she knew nothing more.


	8. Chapter 8

A/N: Translations of the Gerudo phrases are at the end of the chapter text.

 **Chapter 8**

1

 _"At-spartij," he said._

 _She winced as she suddenly heard his voice, and in a hidden part of her consciousness she wondered that she understood what he wanted. She opened her eyes and her gaze fell on his feet, in the heavy boots she had recognized immediately. Slowly, she straightened up and took in the sight of his figure._

 _As always, he was wearing dark trousers with a deep waistband and a short, light, sleeveless vest that was open in the front. She could see his tension in his stiff fingers, although she heard his calm breath. When her gaze came to his face, she saw that the front strands of his hair were loose and behind his ears. This was unusual. Had he been sleeping already? Was that why he had come without his guards?_

 _"At-spartil siju," she said._

 _His eyes looked at her, undecided, and she wondered, as she had not yet seen this expression on his face before._

 _"What do you want, Your Majesty?" she asked him in Sheikah._

 _"Why did you not tell me, Madam?" he asked with the same polite words he always used when he was speaking to her. Ranalla smiled inwardly when she heard him speaking in her own language._

 _"What do you mean, Your Majesty?" she asked._

 _"You know exactly what I mean," he said, coming closer._

 _Ranalla lowered her gaze, confused._

 _She did not know._

 _Had he figured out where she came from? Did he know about her task?_

 _Her gaze fell on the bright clasp of his trousers, on which the red sign of the Gerudo shone in the dim light of the torch. Then a movement of his fingers caught her attention as he slowly raised his hand. Her gaze followed his hand, which continued to rise, up to her face. He put his hand on her cheek, and his fingers went backwards to her neck while his thumb stayed in the front and gently stroked her skin._

 _Suddenly, his fingers pressed the back of her neck, and his thumb pushed her cheekbone upwards. Her head leaned backwards, and she had to look at him, but she only caught a quick glance at his face before she was overwhelmed by surprise, because she felt his lips. Her body stiffened, and she did not know what to do, as never before had she been kissed. His lips pressed upon hers, and she felt something strange about his body, something that puzzled and amazed her. While her heart was beating wildly and the anger at his insolent attack seized her, she also felt how her core opened and her magic stirred. He seemed to have felt it, too, for he broke away from her and looked at her in astonishment. His lips remained open and she saw the tip of his tongue between his teeth. She also opened her lips to make a scornful remark, but he took advantage of the moment, and his hand on her back drew her to him, and his lips were on hers again._

 _"Come, Madam, give me your tongue," he whispered at her lips. "Do what I do."_

 _His words entered into her mind like a thousand beguiling sighs, and trembling, she closed her eyes, as his lips found hers again. She wanted to resist, to block her mind, but for the first time in her life, her tongue suddenly seemed to make its own decisions, for it went to his, which was seeking after it like a hungry wolf._

 _He kissed her fervently, and her tongue obeyed and returned his kiss while horror was crawling into her body. She felt her magic tremble, as if a fine breeze was shaking it. Ganondorf held her head tightly, and his kiss grew even more urgent, and suddenly Ranalla felt a whirl coming from his tongue. Frightened, she gasped under his lips, but his mouth remained on hers and his hand held her tight. Her arms were tied and she could not resist, and the whirl he had sent her made its way through her body to her magic. It reached the place deep down, where her magic was sleeping, and stroked its surface with greedy fingers. Then the fingers began to enter into the substance of her magic, like in a viscous, dark lake that had been quiet for a long time._

 _His other hand came between their bodies, and Ranalla felt his fingers on her abdomen, on the closure of her trousers that the Sisters had brought her in the morning. He knew, of course, how to open it, and after a few quick movements of his hand, the fine cloth slipped from her hips. She whimpered as a sudden chill swept across her skin and her trousers fell to the ground, but Ganondorf's hand was still between them. It slid down, and one of his fingers immersed into her body, while his hand pressed softly on the hidden spot that was pounding with longing. She felt him moan softly at her lips, then his hand came back slightly higher and opened the closure of his trousers as well. At that moment, Ranalla recognized what she had felt all the time – that there was a hard convexity pushing against her body, that was now freed. His body was very warm in that spot, and in the cool air of the dungeon, Ranalla shuddered as she felt him on her skin._

 _He broke loose from her lips, and she gasped with anger and desire, both of which were struggling in her body to gain the upper hand. His eyes glittered and his hungry gaze bored into hers. He took his hand from her head, and then she felt both his hands on her bare hips. Her trousers remained on the floor as he lifted her effortlessly to himself, parting her legs._

 _"Hold on tight, Madam," he said, then he kissed her again. As in a daze, she wrapped her legs around his body and felt his warm hardness penetrate her. A soft pain accompanied the feeling, and she felt him flinch. But then he took a step forward, her back bumped against the cold wall behind her, and at the same time he pushed into her._

 _The sensation took her breath away. She wanted to moan and whimper, but he did not let go of her. His tongue stroked hers, and the fingers of his magic were stirring in hers, while his wild thrusts pushed her against the wall again and again. She could no longer think, and her arms, which hung from the clanging chains, wanted to wrap around his neck. She felt something happening with her magic, something she had not thought possible, for it rose and wrapped around the foreign whirl that lured it and pulled it along._

 _His movements quickened, and Ranalla's body craved every thrust. With her magic, something else was climbing up, something beautiful, delicate, that wanted to be freed. Every new blow sent a shiver through her body, and the tongue in her mouth was dragging hers with powerful urges to a frantic dance. He grew faster and faster, and the feeling inside her, which was aroused by his movements, swelled and slowly rose to the surface. She felt the fine hairs on her skin rise as her muscles tightened in anticipation of fulfillment. The whirl in her core drew her magic through her body, and burned like a wild flame everything it found on its way. She felt her arms on the chains become hot, and the heat inside them crept upwards. Her fingers stiffened, as he paused in his frenzied movements and jerked, just as the feeling that her body was waiting for arrived at last. A wild, blissful shudder seized her, and she screamed, as his last twitching thrusts dragged the trapped magic out of her body, and it poured from her tied hands on the wall in a powerful, beaming flash of lightning. The chains of her fetters melted with a hissing sound, and her arms fell heavily upon his shoulders. He kissed her, and finally she could wrap her arms around him and press him to her. When his lips parted from her, joy lay in his face, and he smiled before kissing her again. She held onto him with her legs, while his arms stroked over her back and pressed her to him. Her magic was flowing over her body with hissing, blue whirls, and merged with his whirls, which were flowing to her like a wave of joy._

 _"The word for love, Madam," he said. "Andyr. Why did you not tell me?"_

.

She wanted to answer, but her mouth was dry and her tongue would not obey her. She was cold, and there was a throbbing pain in the back of her head. She was still feeling the hard wall in her back, although it was no longer vertical, but was horizontal...

But _he_ was no longer there. Just a moment ago she had been in his arms, in the dark cell in the dungeon, after he had...

Panting, she opened her eyes and saw red light surrounding her. This time she had dreamed the dream to the end, and her eyes widened as the realization hit her. She had to tell him...

When she raised her arms to get up, they were still tied. For a moment, reality mingled with her dream, and she was sure that she had melted the fetters with her magic. But then she remembered that it had been a dream, and she screamed in horror, and shook her shackles.

"She is conscious!" she heard a high, shrill voice say. She knew this voice, she had heard it before, but where?

"That's good!" said another voice, which she also knew.

Shuffling steps on a smooth stone floor approached, then two ugly faces with long, hooked noses and protruding eyes came into her field of vision.

"Nice that you are back, my little one," said one face, and Ranalla noticed a white, glowing gem on its forehead. She looked at the other face, and there she saw a red gem.

"Well, did you have a nice dream?" hissed the face with the red gem. "You wanted that all the time, didn't you?"

"What did you do, Koume?" the face with the white gem scolded the other. "Didn't I tell you to stop with your little games? You'll get him soon enough!"

"I only stirred a little in her mind, Kotake," defended the face with the red gem. "She is yearning for him, our little Sheikah flower. So much sensual desire... it would be a shame not to take advantage of that!"

"What do you want from me?" Ranalla asked, disgusted.

"We'll help you to open, my sweetie," said the face to her. "Then our handsome Majesty can impregnate you. Oh, I wish I were in your place, my kitten!"

"Let me go!" Ranalla shouted, pulling on the chains with her arms.

"But no, silly!" said the face with the white gem. "You will stay here, and our beam will free your magic. Then you will finally be as he wants you. Rejoice, I know you are longing for him!"

"I know how he can free my magic!" Ranalla shouted again. "Let me go, I must go to him!"

She reared up and tried to get her hands free, and the shackles chafed painfully at her joints.

"Hold still," the red face hissed over her. "Do you believe our Majesty will still have you, after you have completely crushed yourself?"

"Let me go!" Ranalla shouted again. "Your Majesty! Help me!"

"You can save your screams, he cannot hear you," said the white face. "He is sleeping blissfully in his bed on the roof. Good that you came out of your room today. Now we can begin two days earlier."

"But you gave him two weeks!" Ranalla shouted.

And at that moment, she suddenly knew where she had heard those voices. She remembered the experience she had had outside her body. These were the figures with the broomsticks. They wanted to do something with her, something _he_ did not want. It would hurt her...

Ranalla called her magic and tried to send it to search. She had to reach him!

"Stop that!" the red face hissed above her again. "You cannot escape anyway!"

Ranalla did not listen to her and let her magic move on. It was looking for an opening, for a way out, but when it found the door, it bumped against a barrier of dark, burning magic that did not let it through. Frustrated, Ranalla called back her magic.

"We are immune to you, my dove," the white face giggled. "You can only touch us with your full magic, but we'll make sure that you will not be able to do that anymore, after we have unleashed it, won't we, little Sister?"

They only needed her body, they had said, when she had lain unconscious on the bed... on _his_ bed... where he was now lying...

"Let's start already, Kotake," said the red face. "Why do you have to dawdle so much?"

"Be quiet, Koume! I am coming!"

The two faces disappeared from her field of vision, and then Ranalla saw them fly through the air on their brooms. They flew up and hovered in the air obliquely above her. Suddenly their brooms glowed, one of them white, the other red, and they took them into their hands and aimed with them at Ranalla. From the brooms broke streams of magical energy, also a white one and a red one, and Ranalla saw them merge into a single, thick, violet beam that streamed over her head.

"You need to aim, you stupid chicken!" cried the red witch, Koume, as Ranalla now knew.

"It was you who did not aim correctly!" Kotake scolded. "Not her head, that comes later. Aim at her chest!"

Ranalla watched with horror as the beam shifted and hit the ground at her side, then slowly moved to her chest. She already heard the hissing as the beam approached, and with the slight allowance of her fetters, she tried to pull herself out of its path.

But it did not help.

The beam hit her, and a pain that seemed to sweep out her innermost soul exploded in her body. She screamed until her throat ached. Her muscles tightened and her body reared up in a senseless attempt to escape the pain. The beam hissed on her skin and burned into her like a glowing, piercing spear that was trying to impale her. Ranalla looked at her chest in panic, but she saw only a bright, violet light, from which red and white sparks were spraying and smoke was rising. Her thoughts broke off, and a deep darkness began to gnaw at her consciousness.

It hurt so much, it hurt so much!

 _"At-spartij,"_ she heard his voice from her dream.

 _Awake!_

These perfidious witches had tampered with her mind and had sent her this strange dream, but with its help she had recognized what he had to do to free her magic. It was so simple, and she wanted to tell him. She did not want the witches to do it, because they wanted to unleash her magic but destroy her mind!

Was this what Ganondorf feared?

Flee... she had to flee!

 _"Use your magic!"_ his voice echoed in her ears.

 _"...I want to feel that you resist, with all your might."_

The pain in her chest was unbearable, and she thought her body would burst. She had to resist, with all her might. Not only with what was free, but also with what was still trapped.

She had to free it, she had to unleash it, she had to...

 _Ganondorf... Your Majesty... I love you!_

She closed her eyes and felt her hands warm; they became hot! It hurt, but the pain was nothing against the pain in her chest.

"She's resisting!" cried one of the witches, and the beam trembled.

"Concentrate!" cried the other, and the beam became stable again.

Ranalla felt the pain in her hands. It was not enough, it had to be stronger. She sent even more magic to them, and the pain swelled. Her hands were burning brightly, and she thought the flames were burning her skin – and her flesh, and that her bones were in ashes.

But it was not enough!

She let the pain flow still farther, into her arms, her shoulders, until it was in her chest, where the other pain was boring into her being. Her entire body was consumed by the burning flames of the blue light that was flowing through it and made it shine, and then...

...the pain stopped.

Her eyes flew open in astonishment, and she saw a dome of blue energy that surrounded her. She could not hear anything, but the violet beam had disappeared. Beyond the blue, transparent wall, she saw the two witches flying excitedly on their brooms.

Ranalla straightened up and realized, amazed, that the chains of her shackles had melted on her hands and feet. The fetters were still on her body, but she was no longer tied to the altar. She jumped off the platform and felt that the blue dome was following her body. At the door, she met the black barrier, where her magic had failed. She pressed against it, and the barrier gave way and broke into small, dark whirls, that dissolved on the ground.

Ranalla opened the door and ran out. She did not know how long the dome would protect her, and she ran as fast as she could. She tried to remember how she had flown when she had followed the witches through the corridors, and after a few corners she recognized the corridor with the room where the organ was. From there, she knew the way to the central point, and ran there. When she had reached it, the dome began to dissolve, for she heard the sounds again, and also the witches behind her. When they were flying on their brooms, they were faster than her, because Ranalla could not fly. In panic, she ran up the stairs, then to the right and up the next staircase. She heard the witches already on the first staircase, and they would catch her in a moment! Ranalla wanted to turn around and throw her magic at them, but she was afraid that she would lose too much time. They were flying fast, and as Ranalla turned to the right again, they were already at the foot of the stairs she had just left. She had to climb two more stairways, and she ran and ran...

When she had passed the next staircase, the blue dome disappeared completely. Ranalla cursed inwardly, for she still had to overcome the barrier at the double doors, and she did not know how she had created the dome. She turned around the corner, and there was the last staircase. The witches were just a few steps behind her, and they would catch her before she would reach the door, if she...

She saw the barrier that was protecting the door.

The door, but not the wall!

The witches were almost there, but she had to do it, she had to risk it! She called her magic and threw a ball of blue fire against the wall next to the door. The brickwork flew outside in a thousand pieces and left a large hole through which the stars glittered. The witches reached for her, but Ranalla jumped and slid like an arrow through the hole. She landed on the ground outside and rolled off, rose with her momentum, and ran to the back, toward the forest.

"Your Majesty!" she cried as loudly as she could. "Ganondorf!"

She felt the bony hand of a witch on her shoulder, but screaming, she broke free and ran on. A ball of white magical energy hit her in the back and hurled her forward. She fell on her stomach and the cold nearly stunned her, but she got up again and ran on. She heard a new ball approaching and instinctively ran sideways, and it hit the rocky ground with a loud hiss and threw sharp shards to all sides.

"Your Majesty!" Ranalla cried with all her might, as the next energy ball struck behind her. Suddenly, the red witch was in front of her, and Ranalla saw the end of her broom glow. The witch took the broom in her hand and pointed it at Ranalla. A burning energy ball broke from the broom and flew at Ranalla, but she jumped over the ball and rolled off. Suddenly, there was light in front of her, and she saw the trees of the forest in the glow of the magical spheres. She could already see the blue barrier, and she knew she could not get through. She kept running, but bounced against the barrier, and then the witches caught up with her. She turned to them and saw them both hovering on their brooms. They were approaching with their terrible faces, coming ever closer, and then they raised their glowing brooms and aimed at Ranalla. From the broomsticks broke a white and a red stream, which merged into the violet beam that flowed to her chest...

An arm came around her waist and whirled her around. She flew through the blue barrier and bounced against a tree at the edge of the forest. For a moment, it was dark around her, but she jerked herself up and looked out. Ganondorf was standing there, holding the two witches back with a dense blue barrier.

"Go away," he cried in a loud voice. "Go away, or I will kill us both!"

Ranalla was trembling all over. The metal fetters were dragging heavily on her limbs, and bloody abrasions were beneath them on her skin. She fell to her knees and struggled against the dizziness that befell her as she realized what had almost happened. Her blood was rushing loudly in her ears, and she no longer heard what was happening outside the barrier. She closed her eyes and leaned against the tree.

Just a little rest... Close the eyes just for a little while...

Warm, strong hands seized her arms and held them tight.

"Stay with me, Madam!"

She opened her eyes.

He was there before her. She turned her head and looked outside. Everything was quiet there.

"They are gone," he said, pressing her to himself. "Oh, Madam..."

 _"Ri-su ru..."_ stammered Ranalla.

He straightened and pulled her up. She saw his face, his eyes glittering in the glow of the light orbs, his lips coming to her to kiss her. As if for a brief moment she could see the future, she felt his lips on hers before they touched her. She opened her lips for him and, like a reflection of her dream, she met his tongue, which she had felt so long ago in the middle of her hand. A wild shudder ran through her body, and her arms with the heavy shackles wrapped around his neck, and she pressed his body to herself, as the last rest of her trapped magic streamed out of her and flowed to him. It was so easy, so miraculously, divinely easy to let it happen, while the feeling she had awaited for so long spread through her body and filled her entire being.

2

After a long time, his lips parted from hers, and he bent down and lifted her up into his arms. Only now did she notice that his vest was missing, and she snuggled happily up to his chest and inhaled his smell as he carried her through the forest. They reached the grassy area and then the pavilion with the bed. He put her on her feet and took her face in his hands. She sent her new, unleashed, complete magic to him and saw him shiver as she met him. She felt his shiver in her own body, and he kissed her again, and she could not believe that it was really happening. As he kissed her, his hands slid from her face, and she felt them wander along her arms, up to her wrists. The weight of the fetters disappeared, and his large hands closed around her wrists. Something happened there, it became warm, and she remembered the feeling from noon, when he had healed her hand. Then he pulled away from her, released her hands, and pressed her gently onto the bed. She sat down, and he sank to his knees before her, and removed the fetters from her legs. His hands came to the grazed wounds on the joints and healed them with blissful warmth. While he was still kneeling before her, he raised his hands and pulled the light from the orbs, and it became dark in the forest. In a corner of the grassy area, one sphere remained, and its soft light illuminated the pavilion.

He straightened again and looked at her with a serious face. Before he could say anything, Ranalla rose from the bed and went to him. She looked into his eyes while her fingers went to the waist of his trousers.

"I can do it with..." he said softly, but she lay a trembling finger on his lips and shushed him softly. She wanted to do it herself – she had to, because only this way could she believe what was happening. She opened the closure and freed his waiting body. Then, with her magic, she removed his trousers from his legs and set them aside.

He was standing before her in all his mighty beauty, and she was so dazed by this sight that she did not know where to start. But he took the hem of her tunic and pulled it over her head. Then he knelt again before her and also opened the closure of her pants. They slid from her hips and disappeared, and his lips settled in the middle between her hips, and she felt her body burst as if into flames. He stood up and lifted her into his arms again, then he lay down with her on the bed and rolled to the side with her. She felt his skin on hers, and his magic completely surrounded her like a shell of light. He leaned toward her and kissed her greedy lips, and she opened to him like a calyx to the sun.

She felt the soft pain again as her dream came true, and for the first time in her life, she received a man. Reverent astonishment lay in his eyes as he gently entered her, and the sensation surpassed all that she had felt in her dream. The feeling of his arms holding her, and his strong, warm body, which she, now that she was finally freed from all fetters, could at last press to herself, made any memory of the dream fade away. Overwhelmed by joy, she clawed her fingers into the muscles of his arms, as her core widened to take him in completely. With a pounding heart, she closed her eyes, for it was more than she could bear. When she thought that she was going to die of pleasure, he retreated from inside her and quickly pushed forward again, and she shuddered, gasping for breath, and opened her eyes. She saw his eyes, which were watching her face with tenderness, and were absorbing every emotion. She pulled him down to her and kissed him with hungry greed, and he continued as he kissed her, first slowly, then faster, and then...

Everything around her vanished. She was feeling only him, his skin and his strong presence inside her, his hair stroking her face and breasts, his lips that made her tremble with happiness every time they touched her, and the gentle, warm breeze of the forest that was their nest.

When fulfillment reached them, Ranalla felt the tiny cell of the Treasure break out of the great swarm he had given her, and set off on his way to her with boundless courage. She welcomed him, took him in, and locked him in his prepared shelter, where he could grow. And up there, among the trees, the stars, and the dancing fireflies, her longing became reality as she fell asleep in his arms, after he had made love to her with his wonderful, beautiful, strong body.

3

The morning was chilly in the desert, and from somewhere a cover lay upon her body. A hand stroked gently over her hair, and other hair tickled the tip of her nose. She opened her eyes and looked into his eyes, which were looking at her with love and pride.

"Sleep, Madam," he said. "I will watch over you."

She smiled and snuggled to his body under the covers.

"I am fine, Your Majesty," she said. He leaned toward her and kissed her, and she realized that his magic was still enveloping her. Had he stayed awake all night?

"Did you not sleep?" she asked.

"I have been thinking," he said.

"Thinking?" she asked in surprise. "About what?"

"About the word for _love_ ," he replied. _"Andyr._ Why did you not tell me?"

With a shiver she recognized the words she had heard in her dream.

"You found it?" she asked, stunned. "How?"

"You gave me a hint," he said. "It probably was not your intention, but it helped me."

She frowned, and he smiled.

"Don't you want to sleep anymore?"

She shook her head.

"All right."

He turned and took something from the floor behind the bed. It was one of the large books in Sheikah from the library, and the dictionary she had written for him. He opened the large book at the beginning, and she read the title:

 _Natiar ill Tria, ill Andyr Kendrice_

Below the title, there was a dedication: _Ner mil andryti Irlan Drilla_

 _The Essence of Magic, by Andyr Kendrice_

 _For my beloved sister Drilla_

With a wistful smile, Ranalla noticed the irony in the fact that even the author of the book bore the name Andyr. As Ganondorf browsed through the book, she wondered who the author was. In the community she had not known anyone with that name. Was he Sheikah? But there were no more Sheikah, except Impa. And by his name the author had to be at least part Hylian.

Ganondorf had found the passage he was looking for, and he showed her a sentence he had marked. She read:

 _Jal Tria ill Ronyr vendrit, Andyr si rivendrit._

 _When the magic of a person is asleep, Andyr will awaken it._

Near the word _Andyr_ he had written a large question mark.

When she had read, he took the dictionary, opened it at a certain point, and showed her an entry:

 _Andyr: Fire_

She looked at him questioningly.

"As soon as I knew enough Sheikah, I began to read this book, Madam, for I hoped to find an answer to the question of how I could free your magic. I found this sentence and translated the word _Andyr_ with _fire_ , as it is in your dictionary. I did not know exactly what _fire_ should mean in this context, and assumed that it was a metaphor for _rage_ or _anger._ I thought of situations in which you might get angry, and indeed, a small part of your magic was unleashed. But I guessed that I was missing something, because the book does not say anything about someone losing consciousness when their magic is awakened."

Ganondorf closed both books and laid them on the floor behind the bed. Curiously, she waited for his explanation. He took a deep breath.

"Ten days ago, when you awoke from your blackout, you spoke Sheikah to me, and you said: _Wi natrili Lorin ill Deron, Andyr ill Serok._ I translated the sentence with _You are the Son of the God, Fire of the Dragon._ However, the word _Andyr_ did not fit, at least not with the meaning of _fire_ , and I attributed this to the fact that you were perhaps still confused after your unconsciousness. But then last night, I read the sentence in the book again and realized that you would never make a mistake in your mother tongue. The word _Andyr_ had to have another meaning, which could be translated in my name with _beloved_ – or _love."_

He looked at Ranalla questioningly.

"You are right," she said. "You have drawn the right conclusions, Your Majesty."

He smiled wistfully, shaking his head softly. Then he lay down beside her and took her into his arms.

"Unfortunately, this correlation became clear to me only last night, Madam. The moment I rescued you from the twin sisters, the last piece of the puzzle fell into place, and I understood what I had to do. I had to make love to you to free your magic, and not vice versa."

He pressed her to him and kissed her tenderly.

"I'm sorry, Madam," he said. "If only I had known earlier... It would have been so easy! You wanted to enter the Fortress and you were my prisoner, but I _chose_ you the moment I touched your cheek there on the bridge, and it almost made me lose my mind that I could not have you."

He held Ranalla tight and rolled on his back with her. She understood what he wanted, for she felt his desire. She straightened up, and whimpering, she let him slip into her. He closed his eyes and moaned softly, and his hands came to her hips as she leaned toward him and kissed him.

"I wanted you too, Your Majesty..." she breathed at his lips. "When I heard your voice... and your magic came to me..." Slowly, she moved on him and saw the pleasure in his face. She was glad that she could give him this joy, and sank to his chest, where he pressed her to him when they met their fulfillment. She stayed there and heard his heart slow down, and his breath grew calm and regular. His magic withdrew from her and became still, and they both slept into the morning, with their bodies joined and their souls united.

4

Ranalla awoke, as strong hands stroked over her hair and her back, and he was inside her again. When she opened her eyes, she looked to the sun that shone directly into her face, and she blinked. She straightened up and heard him moan softly, then she felt his magic flow to her. He pulled her to his chest and turned with her so she lay on her back. She could not imagine ever letting go of him, and he kissed her, enveloping her with his magic and passion, until she gasped under him and her body shuddered.

"I'll get us something to eat, Madam," he whispered in her ear as her muscles relaxed, then he pulled back and stood up. She watched him put his pants on and walk across the grass into the forest. After a while he came back with a small basket full of fruit, berries, and leaves.

"The eggs and the grains are in the kitchen, Madam, and I haven't been there yet."

"This is all wonderful," said Ranalla, biting into a fig from the basket. Ganondorf sat with a fruit in front of her on the bed, and she decided to address the question that had not yet been clarified.

She had long since realized that the two old women who had kidnapped her had to be the renegade twin sisters Rauru had spoken of. But she had to know the nature of Ganondorf's relationship with them.

"Your Majesty," she said. "Who are Kotake and Koume?"

He paused and lowered his eyes for a long moment before he looked at her again.

"I was not honest with you, Madam, when I told you then, that only Nabooru and the four guards live here except me. But I did not tell you about the twins because I did not want to scare you.

"They used to live in the Fortress, but when I was old enough to leave my mother, they brought me here and gave up their quarters in the Fortress. At that time I was grateful for that. The Sisters in the Fortress were always afraid of my magic, but the twins were enthusiastic about it and taught me to control and master it."

Ganondorf was silent and seemed to be lost in memories.

"They built the barrier out there, didn't they?" Ranalla asked. "That burned me yesterday?"

"Yes, Madam. They wanted to prevent the Sisters from coming to the Temple. They took my blood and adjusted the barrier to it, so that no one could pass through except me. When I grew up and decided to live here, they had to include also my guards and my deputy."

"What did they want to do with me, Your Majesty?" she asked hesitantly.

Ganondorf looked at her again for a moment before he answered.

"You see, Madam," he said. "I am unique in the history of the Gerudo. I am a male, magically gifted Gerudo. Such a thing has never existed since the beginning of my people. Never has there been any magic in the Gerudo."

"But what about them?" Ranalla asked.

"The twins were not born with magic, Madam," he said. "They are Gerudo, but they have stolen their magic somewhere... or maybe another being has given it to them. I do not know exactly. They are more than four hundred years old, and since they brought me to the Temple, they have been obsessed with the idea of breeding a hybrid with my heritage, who is able to produce other male, magically gifted children with the Gerudo Sisters. They brought me the books that you saw in my library, and in return they assigned me the task to find a woman with the Gift of Magic and impregnate her."

"And what do you yourself think about that idea, Your Majesty?" Ranalla asked. Ganondorf snorted and lowered his eyes for a moment before answering.

"I was looking for a magically gifted woman because I wanted to love her, Madam. I wanted a woman who is like me, who loves me, and whom I can love with the full power of my magic."

"And the twin sisters grew impatient, didn't they? How did they want to awaken my magic?"

"With pain, Madam!" said Ganondorf. "Actually, for them it does not matter whether your magic has awoken, or not. They only wanted to awaken your magic because they no longer wanted to wait for me. Knowing something like this could happen, I prepared your room with an invisible barrier ten days ago, which only allows the passage of you and the other five Sisters, but not the twins. They could also not reach you as long as one of us was nearby. But last night you obviously came out of your room, and you were alone, and they attacked at once. You were lucky that you could awaken another part of your magic, Madam, or it would all have ended in disaster."

He closed his eyes and slowly shook his head, and Ranalla thoughtfully continued eating her fruit.

"They must have been in my room before, Your Majesty," said Ranalla. "Koume, she..."

Ganondorf looked at her, startled.

"What do you say, Madam? How do you know that?"

"Since I have been living here in the Temple, I had a certain dream again and again, and I suspect that Koume put it into my mind when she was in my room with an invisibility shield. They talked about that when I was lying on the altar."

"What kind of dream?" he asked suspiciously.

"Well..." Ranalla stammered.

"Tell me, Madam!" he urged.

"I am in a prison cell in a dark room without windows – in the Fortress, I believe. It's night and... and... _you_ come to me, Your Majesty, and..."

"These hideous witches!" he hissed with disgust.. "I knew it! From the beginning they wanted me to put you in chains and lock you up in the dungeon. One day I will kill them for this."

"I... it was not bad, Your Majesty," said Ranalla. "It was even... Tonight, when the twin sisters kidnapped me and I was unconscious, I dreamed the complete dream for the first time. I do not know whether they had planned it that way, but when I woke up, I knew how you could release my magic. Only you could do it, Your Majesty."

He looked at her and smiled. Tenderly, he stroked her cheek with his hand.

"But you helped me, Madam," he said, and she felt his magic coming to her.

"Now that my magic has fully awoken... am I still in danger, Your Majesty?" she asked.

He shook his head. "I cannot say exactly, Madam. I do not trust them. They are capable of anything if they wish to achieve their goal."

"What will happen if I get pregnant?"

Ganondorf smiled and lowered his eyes again for a moment. Then he looked seriously into her eyes.

"Will you stay with me, Madam?"

Ranalla was so stunned that she did not know what to say. She looked at her hands and swallowed. He came to her and sat in front of her on the edge of the bed, then he turned her face to himself.

"Look at me, Madam Ranalla from the Sheikah," he said seriously. Ranalla looked into his eyes, and he continued. "I have now experienced what it is like to love you with your complete magic. It is not comparable to anything I have ever felt in my life, and not for a single moment do I want to be without this feeling ever again. I ask you if you feel the same for me. If so, and if you want to stay with me, I will protect you as I can, and our children as well."

"What about the other Sisters?" Ranalla asked. "If they choose you..."

He smiled and shook his head.

"If a man is betrothed or married, they cannot choose him, Madam."

Ranalla took a deep breath.

What was happening here?

She felt overwhelmed by this situation. She was pregnant, she had conceived the Treasure. She had to take him to safety, but she also had to make sure that Ganondorf could not have any other children with other women. Could she accomplish that if she married him? Was the Treasure safe? She wanted to take him out of the grasp of these evil twin sisters, as she knew that she would not have peace from them, as long as she was living in this Temple.

Ganondorf was looking at her, waiting for her reply. She looked at him and saw the sincerity in his eyes.

"Is... is this a marriage proposal, Your Majesty?" she asked hesitantly.

He nodded slowly, and a hint of a smile crept onto his face.

"Yes, Madam," he said. "Do you accept?"

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Tranlations:

 _At-spartij!_ \- Wake up!  
 _At-spartil siju._ \- I am awake.


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter 9**

1

When she gave him her answer, he took her face in his hands and kissed her long and deeply. Without interrupting the kiss, he placed the basket with the fruit on the ground, and while the sun slowly wandered across the sky, they celebrated their new relationship under the small yellow flowers that surrounded the pavilion. She would never again have to sleep in the lonely room, and at the thought that she would fall asleep in his arms every night and wake up with him in the morning, her heart danced with joy and happiness.

After they had washed themselves in the basin of the spring, they dressed and went to the double doors that led to the interior of the Temple. Ganondorf stopped at the blue barrier around the garden, took Ranalla's hands and stood with her right in the barrier. Then he spread his arms and pulled her arms with them. She saw him close his eyes and concentrate, and then a magical whirl came from each of his hands, that slipped a few paces across the barrier and then faded into it.

"The barrier will now let you through, Madam," he said, and Ranalla smiled. She took her hands from his, stepped back from the barrier, and then she simply went through.

"Thank you, Your Majesty," she said, as Ganondorf came to her through the barrier.

In the wall next to the double doors to the Temple, there was a hole the size of the wheel of a cart, and the debris were scattered up to twenty paces wide around the hole. Ganondorf looked at her with raised eyebrows and nodded approvingly, then swept the rubble to a heap in front of the hole with a powerful magical whirl.

"I will have to close it," he said, pressing her to himself. "I was careless with the barrier, but that was your luck, Madam. Our luck." She walked, holding his hand, through the door and through the barrier in the interior, and with a gesture, he pulled back the barrier from the door. "From today on there will be no more barriers in the Temple," he said.

In the kitchen they met Nabooru, who saw with a glance what had happened. She came to Ranalla and hugged her. "Congratulations, Madam," she whispered in her ear. When she withdrew from Ranalla, she glanced at Ganondorf, and Ranalla saw him nod. Then he went with her to the living room where lunch was waiting for them.

His magic was always with her, and she tried to keep the connection to him. It was a completely new situation for her, and she did not know exactly how to handle the unfamiliar freedom. Ganondorf noticed her uncertainty and said:

"I will train you, Madam. In the next months, I want to teach you everything I know. You will learn science; craft; to fight with the sword, with two swords, and with one and two scimitars; archery; and how to control your complete magic. I will show you how to cultivate the garden on the roof, and, if you like, how to play the organ. Immediately after lunch we will ride to the Fortress, where you will choose a horse."

Ranalla did not know what was happening to her. In a moment of madness and desire, she had agreed to become his wife. She did not know what it meant to her, but an unmistakable voice inside her had made it clear to her that she could not lose this man, no matter her task. Since then, she had wandered through the Temple like in a trance, wrapped in his magic, waiting for the dream to come to an end and for her to awake alone in her lonely room with the high window. Again and again, she examined her memories and searched for that of his kiss, and she always found it complete and present in her mind.

He had done it!

He had indeed succeeded. He had found the word for _love_ himself and had recognized what not even Ranalla had known – what he had to do to free her and himself. And inside her, she could feel the small presence that had linked her fate with his...

"...Madam?"

She gave a slight jolt when she heard his voice again. He looked at her questioningly. They had arrived at the table and were standing by her chair.

"Oh... forgive me, Your Majesty," she said. "I was only... in thought. I still cannot believe that you... that we..."

He pressed her to himself and said:

"Here is a proof, Madam. _Saris wili Drisani."_ He kissed her hands.

 _"Saris wili Sirnallani,"_ he said, kissing her eyelids.

 _"Saris wili Sarini," he finished._ And then he kissed her lips tenderly, and she closed her eyes and bathed in his magic like in a golden sea of love. He pressed her onto her chair, then went to the other side, took his setting and put it all on the short side of the table to the right of her place. He sat down on the chair next to her and gestured for her to eat.

"Come, Madam, you must eat. When we are in the Fortress, there will be a lot of excitement. The Sisters are likely to hold a feast, but it may take some time before we get something to eat."

Ranalla took the bowl with the prepared vegetables and put some on her plate. She was hungry, and she knew that she would eat a little more than usual during the next year.

2

After lunch, they went out, and the four guards were already waiting for them on their horses. He walked with her to the right, along the rock wall to the back, where an angled entrance led into the interior of the Temple. They had to turn around a few corners, but then they came into a large room with three sections, lit by several small windows in the rock wall. In the middle part, Ganondorf's horse was standing ready but without a saddle. In the right room, which seemed to be the stable for the horses of the guards, was another horse, and in the left part Ranalla saw various cabinets, shelves, and stands with equipment. Ganondorf took the reins of his horse and led it out through the angled entrance. He lifted Ranalla to the horse's free back, and, with the help of a lonely boulder on the ground near the opening to the stables, mounted behind her. They rode around the corner to the entrance of the Temple, then under the great platform up to where the invisible barrier bounded the valley.

Like on the first evening, he put his arm around her waist and held her tight as they rode through the burning barrier and up the slope to the Haunted Wasteland. Ranalla remembered the first time she had ridden with him through the Wasteland on his horse. With a quivering heart, she had surrendered to his ardent caresses in the darkness, after he had conquered her there on the bridge by storm with his magic. And now, ten weeks later, she was his wife... She was the wife of the King of the Gerudo. Did that make her the Queen?

He turned her face toward him, and she let the bright midday sun shine through her eyelids as he kissed her. When they passed the narrow gap between the rock walls, she felt the muscles in his thighs tighten. The horse sped up. Ranalla clung to his arm around her body, and the dark horse followed, at a light trot, the barely perceptible magical mark through the Wasteland. It was the first time since her arrival that she was riding through the sandy mist of the Wasteland in daylight, and like the first time, a disconcerting feeling of helplessness spread over her mind as the yellowish-brown monotony surrounded her.

"Look at the ground, Madam," Ganondorf said behind her, and she lowered her eyes to the blue shimmering mark that showed them the way. Underneath, however, she could recognize details. She saw pebbles and single stems of a plant sticking out of the sand, and now and then, her eyes caught the rapid movement of an insect crawling across their path. As she watched the ground, she noticed that it was not a straight path that they were following, but a twisted one, which seemed to multiply the air line between the Temple and the Fortress.

When they had crossed the quicksand field and were near the gate, she heard a call from the gate guards, and it was lifted. They rode into the courtyard of the Fortress and descended beside the watchtower. Immediately some Sisters came, and one of them led Ganondorf's horse away. The others bowed to Ganondorf, and another one of them greeted Ranalla kindly in Gerudo:

 _"Granij rinnan lastis, strani Ranalla."_

 _"Greet the face of the sun, Sister Ranalla,"_ Ranalla translated in her mind. She looked amazed at Ganondorf, but he merely shrugged and said in Sheikah: "The right answer is, _you too, Sister Letria."_

Ranalla smiled and turned back to the Sister.

 _"Lissu va, strani Letria,"_ she said in Gerudo, and the Sister smiled brightly. She seemed to be a few years older than Ganondorf, and she had dark red hair tied to a ponytail with a clasp.

"I'm glad you learned our language," the woman said, taking her hand. "Come, I'll show you the Fortress."

Ranalla looked reluctantly at Ganondorf, and he gestured with his eyes to her that she could go with Letria. As they walked over the courtyard, a few more adult Sisters and younger girls came and looked at her curiously. Some dared to greet her, and Letria told her the names of the Sisters. They all greeted her with the phrase that Letria had used, and Ranalla answered how she had learned.

When they had crossed the courtyard, they entered the interior of the Fortress through a wide opening. Cool half-darkness surrounded them, and Letria led Ranalla through a passage off of which several other similar passages branched. Ranalla could not see any doors, and she remembered how Ganondorf had said on the first evening that there were no lockable rooms in the Fortress. They followed the corridor, which led slightly upwards, until they passed through an opening again and stood outside. Ranalla noticed that they were now on a higher floor of the Fortress. Letria turned around the corner and took another entrance that led into a corridor. But then she took a turn to the right, and they came into a winding passage, similar to the one Ranalla had seen in the stables of the horses in the Temple, only this one led into a room.

The sun was shining through a small window, and Ranalla looked around curiously. In the middle of the room there was a bed like the one she knew from the pavilion. Apart from the bed, there was a dresser and two chests. In one corner she saw a small table with an earthen water bowl and a pitcher.

"This is the place where you will stay with your husband when you are with us, Sister Ranalla," Letria said. "Here you can wash yourself, and in the dresser are fresh clothes. We have Hylian and Gerudo clothes. Just take what you like."

Ranalla stared at Letria in amazement.

"My husband?" she asked. "How do you know..."

Letria laughed. "How do I know that you are our King's wife?" she asked, and seemed amused at Ranalla's astonishment. But then she shook her head.

"Forgive me, Sister," she said. "But probably no one told you, am I right?"

"What?" Ranalla asked. She was missing something here...

"The moment the King took your hand on the bridge and led you through the barrier, he made you his wife according to the law of the Gerudo. He _chose_ you, my Sister. Didn't you know?"

Ranalla just shook her head incredulously. She did not know whether she should be happy or angry at Ganondorf.

"Sister Letria!" she heard a voice call from outside. She knew that voice, but she did not remember from where.

"Come in, Weri," Letria called, and after a few moments, Ranalla saw her coming around the corner. It was the guard that had threatened her with the spear on the bridge. She came to Ranalla and gestured a bow.

"Greet the face of the sun, Sister Ranalla," she said with shining eyes.

"You too, Sister Weri," Ranalla said hesitantly.

"Weri is terribly proud that she caught you," Letria said, laughing. "She has told us everything, every detail. Since then, she has been the queen of the guards."

Weri threw back her head and laughed, too. "You were a good catch, Sheikah," she said approvingly. "But the next morning I had to fight against Sirla, and she cut the tip of my ear, you see, here." She turned her head and showed Ranalla the scar on her ear, where a small piece at the top was missing.

"But why did she do that?" Ranalla asked, horrified. Weri seemed very proud of her scar, but Ranalla did not understand why. Weri looked at Letria, but she shrugged and raised her eyebrows.

"She will meet her anyway if she stays with him," Letria said.

Ranalla looked confused from one to the other.

"Did anyone tell you about our concept of _Choosing,_ Sister?" asked Weri.

Ranalla nodded cautiously.

"That's good," said Weri. "Then you will understand. On that evening when I caught you, Sirla should have been on guard service. But a week before, on her twenty-second birthday, she had chosen the King, and I took over her shift so she could perform the test fight with him. That is why the King was here in the Fortress that evening, and was able to come to the bridge so quickly after I had sent the message. Otherwise, somebody would have had to ride to the Temple to get him. He was just about to start the fight, but when he learned that we had captured a magically gifted Sheikah, nothing could hold him. Sirla was so angry that the Sisters had to tie her up so she would not come and kill you right there at his hand."

Ranalla was dismayed. She imagined what would have happened if Sirla had been on the bridge after choosing Ganondorf... and Ganondorf had not told her. He had taken her to her room and had told her he had something to take care of.

What had that been?

"Did His Majesty come here again after he had brought me to the Temple?" she asked with a beating heart.

Weri nodded. "A man is allowed to withdraw and then he must fight with the respective Sister for his freedom. Sirla, of course, was under the influence of the _Viss_ , and would not agree, but the King defeated her and acquired his freedom."

Ranalla swallowed. So, _that_ was what he had to take care of...

"What... does that mean... for me?" she asked, looking at the two Sisters.

"According to our law, Sirla has no right to make any claim after the King withdrew and defeated her, Sister Ranalla," Letria said. "But she will probably challenge _you_ to fight, because you took from her the man she had chosen. You can refuse to fight her, and then His Majesty will represent you, but..."

Letria broke off, but Ranalla gestured her to continue.

"You would lose your honor as a Sister," said Weri.

Ranalla gasped and Letria put a hand on her shoulder.

"You are not Gerudo, Ranalla, and therefore it would not matter for you. But if Sirla challenges you and you do _not_ fight her _and_ defeat her, she will believe that _she_ is the rightful mate of the King, at least until she conceives her daughter from him. She will try to kill you to get her right."

Ranalla did not know what to say. Ganondorf's words from the evening when she had come to the Fortress came back to her again.

 _...because here the only rooms that can be locked are the cells in the dungeon..._

He had not wanted to confine her. He had wanted to _protect_ her!

Why hadn't Ganondorf told her? Did he consider this matter finished? Her legs gave way and she sat on the edge of the bed with trembling knees. The two Sisters sat down beside her on the bed.

"And... if... if I fight against her?" she asked cautiously.

"If you accept her challenge, you are fighting for the man you both have chosen. The winner may go with him."

"And Ganondorf?" Ranalla asked. "What will he do?"

"If you fight with Sirla, the King loses his freedom again. He must take the one who wins, no matter who it is."

3

When evening came, the Sisters lit a campfire in the courtyard of the Fortress. Colorful carpets and pillows were laid on the ground around the fire, and food and drinks were brought in large baskets. In the Temple, Ranalla had not eaten any cooked food except the eggs of the sand lizards. All the fruits and vegetables were raw, and the grain was only soaked in water and fermented milk. But it was different in the Fortress. In the baskets were bowls with cooked food, and she also found thin, filled dough pies.

She had not seen Ganondorf all afternoon. Letria and Weri had explained to her how a Gerudo duel took place, and had showed her how to wield a Gerudo scimitar. Then they had led Ranalla through the whole Fortress and had introduced her to the other customs of the Gerudo Sisters. She knew now that there were no doors in the Fortress, and that the Sisters shared their rooms. She had seen Sisters of all ages, and she had recognized Ganondorf's features in some little girls who had been looking at her with wide eyes and had wanted to stroke her white hair.

Letria had left after a while, and Ranalla had remained alone with Weri. She had noticed that Weri was a friendly Sister, but she seemed to consider Ranalla her trophy. Ranalla had the impression that Weri wanted to show her off, but she did not want to disappoint her, so she played along in her game until she thought that all the Sisters who lived in the Fortress had seen her.

However, they had not met Sirla.

"If she challenges you, she will do it in the evening when all Sisters are gathered," Weri had said. "She was the youngest Sister who ever rose to the Elite, and she is a very good fighter, Sister Ranalla. Think carefully whether you really want to accept her challenge."

How should she fight this woman? All the adult Gerudo Sisters she had met so far were taller than her and had impressive muscles. She had learned that each of them was trained in combat at least three hours a day. Behind the Fortress there was a large exercise field where the Sisters could even practice archery on horseback. Ranalla had learned to fight with the sword, and since she had been living in the Temple she had been training with Ganondorf, but he had been training only her magic, not her muscles or her technique. Each Gerudo Sister could fight with a sword and with two scimitars. And during the fight she would not be allowed to use her magic...

In the evening, there was to be a small ceremony where Ganondorf would declare Ranalla his chosen wife, and afterwards the wedding was to be celebrated. But if Sirla asked her to fight, Ranalla would have to defend her claim. She would have to _earn_ him first.

She was sitting cross-legged on a pillow, holding a bowl of cut fruit in her hands. In the event that she had to fight, she had decided to eat only light food, because she did not want to be sluggish from the cooked food. Ganondorf was sitting behind her and had wrapped his arms around her body. She leaned against his chest and felt the embrace of his magic.

She looked at another pillow, about ten paces away from her, where a young Sister was sitting. She was very beautiful and Ranalla estimated her age to be about twenty years. Ranalla had never met her, but she was sure it was Sirla, as this was the only woman who stared at her through narrow eyes with a gloomy, contemptuous expression. She had the impression that Sirla was following each of her movements, and every time when Ganondorf turned Ranalla's face to his and kissed her, Sirla closed her eyes with pain, or looked away.

Some Sisters had brought musical instruments and were playing soft sounds that made Ranalla sleepy. She wished to go with Ganondorf to the room that Letria had shown her, and to fall with him into sweet oblivion. Her excitement grew as he ran his firm hands over her body, and she set her bowl on the ground, for she could no longer hold it.

The musicians finished their piece, and Ranalla noticed excited murmurs among the Sisters, who were rising and forming a circle around the camp fire. Ganondorf took Ranalla's hand, rose and pulled her with him. When Ranalla looked around the now-standing Sisters, she saw that many of them were wearing their scimitars. Ganondorf also seemed to notice, for he looked around, frowning. Letria entered the center of the circle and turned to Ganondorf and Ranalla.

"Today we welcome our King Ganondorf Dragmire and our Sister Ranalla from the Sheikah. His Majesty would like to make an announcement."

Letria went back to her place. Ganondorf took a deep breath and stepped forward with Ranalla. When they reached the center of the circle, Sirla stepped out of the circle with her scimitar on her back, and Ranalla knew that the moment had come. She withdrew her hand from Ganondorf's hand, then she turned to him and kissed him.

"Forgive me, Your Majesty," she breathed into his ear, then she stepped back quickly so that he could no longer reach her. While she had been kissing him, about twenty Sisters had gathered around him, their hands on the grips of their scimitars. He looked at Ranalla, puzzled, then he noticed the Sisters who closed in a tight circle around him.

"What are you doing?" he asked Ranalla.

She turned and walked toward Sirla, then stopped a few steps before her, waiting. Sirla also stopped and said in a clear voice:

"We both chose the same man, Sheikah. You are not a Gerudo Sister. Renounce your claim."

"I will not renounce my claim because he has also chosen me," said Ranalla.

Sirla took a deep breath.

"Then fight for him!" she said bitterly.

Ranalla nodded. "I accept your challenge, Sister Sirla of the Gerudo."

"Madam!" she heard Ganondorf's bewildered call, and then she heard twenty scimitars being drawn from their sheaths. She knew that all the swords were pointing at his chest, showing him that he had lost his right to choose.

As the Sisters stepped back and formed an arena, Weri came to Ranalla and brought her a belt with a scimitar. She laid the strap over Ranalla's shoulders and pressed her shoulder gently.

The fire illuminated the faces of the surrounding Sisters. Ranalla and Sirla were standing in the middle of the arena, but Letria stepped between them holding a small bottle in her hand. She said:

"It is forbidden to Sister Ranalla of the Sheikah to use her magic in this fight. However, since we cannot recognize all the applications of magic, Sister Sirla will drink a _Sunir_ potion to compensate. This will strengthen her power for the duration of the fight."

"I do not need any potion to win this fight," Sirla said defiantly.

"Still, you will drink it, Sirla, so you cannot say afterwards that the fight was unfair. Either you do, or you lose your right to fight for Ganondorf Dragmire."

Sirla growled and reached out for the bottle. Letria gave it to her and Ranalla saw a bright liquid in the light of the fire. Sirla opened the bottle and emptied it. She grimaced with disgust, then she gave the bottle back to Letria and drew her sword.

"The fight is over when one of the opponents gives up her claim," Letria said, then she stepped back into the circle.

Ranalla drew her sword. She had tried it in the afternoon and had noticed that it lay comfortably in her hand. She had never fought with a scimitar, but she hoped that she could use her usual technique. She stood in her fighting position, lifted the sword to her shoulder and looked at Sirla. She would have liked a shield, for she saw the strong muscles on Sirla's arms and feared her fierce determination. But since she had been living with Ganondorf she had only ever fought with the sword. He had never given her a shield...

Sirla attacked, and her eyes were glowing in the light of the fire. She hit Ranalla's shoulder, but Ranalla parried and flung Sirla's arm aside. She expected Sirla to strike again, and ducked under her blow. Quickly, she rose again and was now standing on Sirla's other side. Sirla turned around and raised her arm with the sword.

"You're hiding, Sheikah," she said with a scornful snort. Ranalla did not reply, but held the distance to Sirla, who was circling her, and she waited for Sirla's next attack. It came as a violent blow to her stomach, but Ranalla backed away and escaped. She counter-attacked immediately and slashed at Sirla's shoulder. But Sirla pulled her sword up and parried. It grazed Ranalla's forearm, and Ranalla screamed in pain. A quick glance to her arm told her that it was just a small wound, and she threw herself at Sirla. The taller woman parried and whirled around to attack Ranalla, but Ranalla hit Sirla's thigh with a deep blow. Sirla also screamed, and a dark spot formed on her white trousers. With a hateful look, she stared at Ranalla. They were both standing in front of the fire, and from the corner of her eye Ranalla saw Ganondorf watching them from the circle of the Sisters surrounding him.

"You will have to do more than this, if you want to get him, Sheikah," sneered Sirla. Slowly, she circled Ranalla with her sword raised. "Did you feel him inside you, Sheikah? Have you been with him at night? How did it feel, when he kissed you? Come, tell me!"

Ranalla swallowed. She had been prepared for such words from Sirla, but the memory of her night with Ganondorf broke down on her and paralyzed her. At that moment, Sirla jumped at her and slammed. Ranalla could not parry, and Sirla's blade cut into the shoulder of her free arm. It was a deep cut, and Ranalla's eyes darkened as the pain flooded her mind.

"Does it hurt, Sheikah?" Sirla said. "Do you know now how it hurts when the man whom you have chosen withdraws?"

Anger welled up in Ranalla. "I did not want this!" she cried, and sprang at Sirla. She hit Sirla with all her might and screamed as she kept striking out.

"I did not want this!"

She hit Sirla on her free arm and on her hip, then again on the same leg, and Sirla also slashed at Ranalla's legs with deep strokes. Ranalla noticed that her tunic and her trousers were wet from her blood flowing out of her shoulder, and with every step dark drops fell to the ground. She held the injured arm against her body to protect it, and tried to avoid Sirla's blows. Sirla's trousers were blood-soaked, and blood was flowing from her arm. But the potion seemed to work in her body, for the wounds did not seem to hinder her.

Between her attacks, Sirla made short breaks and circled Ranalla as if she reveled in Ranalla's pain.

"Couldn't you have come just an hour later, Sheikah?" she asked bitterly. "What do you want at all? Why do you come here and take away our only man?"

Again, she closed in on Ranalla. Ranalla parried and deflected the blow to her side, but she could not stop Sirla. Again and again the Sister struck her, and Ranalla cringed in pain as her right shoulder was hit and a deep stab penetrated the muscles of her calf. She had so many wounds that her entire body was hurting. But she had to keep fighting. She could not give up, she could not... She could not leave him to her, after he had awakened her magic and made love to her, and after she had accepted his proposal.

"He has _chosen_ me," she cried, and with the last strength of her aching arm she slashed against Sirla's body. But her movements were sluggish, and Sirla dodged.

"He had no right to choose!" Sirla cried, jumping at her with all her might. Sirla's arm was healthy, and Ranalla had no strength to parry. Her blood was flowing out of her body, she felt dizziness overcome her, and her gaze was swaying. If only she could use her magic...

A blue barrier appeared before her as Sirla's sword came down on her. It hit the barrier and bounced from it, sending glowing sparks in all directions. Sirla stared at the barrier with an angry face, then whirled around.

"She called her magic!" she cried.

"She did not," Ranalla heard Ganondorf's voice. She turned her head following his voice, then she saw him. The twenty Sisters were standing as if petrified, with raised swords under a dome of blue energy, and Ganondorf emerged from it. He approached Ranalla and Sirla with large strides, then stopped at the barrier that was separating them. Sirla stared at him.

Ranalla felt her legs give way beneath her. She sank to her knees and her sword fell to the ground. Her tunic stuck to her body and she struggled to remain conscious. Blinking, she tried to see what Ganondorf was doing.

"Enough of this," he said with a stern voice, then turned to the other Sisters. "I am Gerudo, just like you, and I have the right to choose the woman I want. You are proud Daughters of the Desert, and you have made me your King, and I will not allow you to fight for me like chickens for a worm."

Then he stepped to Sirla and stroked her cheek.

"Sirla," he said. "What do you expect from me? Do you want me to give you a daughter? I cannot, because I have bound myself to Ranalla. Do you think that you can force me with this fight? Do you want to tell your daughter that you had to force her father? Do you really want that?"

Ranalla's body sank to the ground, and she tried to support herself with her hands. From her shoulder her blood was dripping into the sand on the rocky ground. She was cold, and she was trembling, and she no longer knew what was happening around her.

Had she won or lost?

In her ears there was a roar that swallowed all sounds. Panic flowed into her mind. She must not give up!

She had to get up again and fight, she could not give up.

She could not give up...

4

She felt that she was being moved. But she was not in his strong arms, but on a hard, rough surface, that was wavering back and forth. She opened her eyes and saw above herself the black sky with millions of glittering stars.

What was happening to her? Was she dead?

She raised her head and looked forward. There was the back of a woman with white trousers and red hair tied to a long ponytail.

"Stay down, Sister Ranalla," she heard a voice behind her. She lay her head back on the hard surface and tried to recognize who had spoken. A smiling face was walking behind her, holding the surface on which she was lying. She closed her eyes and said nothing more.

After a while, the surface stopped, and it was quiet. A warm, soft hand stroked over her forehead, and she opened her eyes. She saw the smiling face, and a hand that offered her a bottle.

"Drink. The King will come to you in a few moments. Are you in pain?"

Ranalla listened to her body. She felt nothing. She could not even feel feelings. Why did the smiling face ask?

And what did the King want from her?

She took the bottle and drank the cool water. When she returned the bottle, dark spots were sticking to it. She looked at her hand.

 _Blood._

It was blood that she saw there. But where did it come from?

And there was a question, an _important_ question...

"What happened?" she asked. "Who won?"

"Nobody won, Sheikah," said the smiling face. She knew its name. It was Weri, the woman with the long spear...

"But how..." Ranalla murmured, struggling to understand.

"Ganondorf interrupted the fight," said Weri.

As Ranalla remembered, horror came.

The King. Ganondorf. _Her_ Ganondorf. He was her husband.

Had she lost him?

She looked around and saw that she was in the room Letria had shown her. A lighted lamp was standing on the chest of drawers, and Ranalla was lying on a sort of woven stretcher on the floor. Weri stroked her forehead gently, and Ranalla did not have the courage to ask.

Suddenly, she heard footsteps behind her, and jumped. She turned her head and looked up at him.

He was so _tall..._

He glanced at Weri, and she rose and went out through the open entrance. Ganondorf went to the dresser and took out a dark blanket, which he spread out on the bright covers of the bed. Then he came to Ranalla, lifted her in his arms from the stretcher and lay her on the blanket on the bed. He picked up the stretcher and leaned it against the wall. From one of the chests he took a small dagger, came back to Ranalla and sat on the edge of the bed next to her. His face was serious, and Ranalla saw exhaustion in his eyes. He looked at her for a long moment and shook his head. Carefully, he began to cut the sleeve of her tunic above her wound on the shoulder with the sharp dagger.

"The Sisters had nothing better to do than to have you fight with enchanted blades," he said. "I need to heal the wounds or they will not close. I went to Sirla first, for as long as the _Sunir_ potion is working, her blood cannot coagulate. I can also heal your wounds, but it will take longer."

Ranalla waited quietly until he had cleared the wound. When he finished, he put the dagger aside and said:

"I have dulled the pain of your wounds with a spell, Madam, but I must remove it in order to heal you. It will hurt."

She swallowed and nodded. Gently, he put his two hands on the open wound and closed his eyes. Suddenly the pain fell upon her, and she whimpered and clenched her teeth. It became warm on the wound, and she felt his magic work, regenerate the destroyed tissue, and close the wound from within. But she also felt how difficult it was for him, because from exhaustion he had trouble concentrating.

After a long time he opened his eyes, panting, and took his hands from her shoulder. She wanted to help him somehow, to make it easier for him...

"Can... I perhaps do something?" she asked.

He looked at her in amazement.

"Yes, Madam!" he said, as if a sudden realization had hit him. "You... could do it yourself. I can lead you, and if you heal your wounds yourself, it will be much easier for me. Will you try?"

Again Ranalla nodded, and a barely perceptible smile appeared on his lips. He cut open her other sleeves and her trouser legs to clear all the wounds.

"Prepare yourself, Madam, it will hurt," he warned her before gently brushing the wound on the other shoulder. At this spot the pain was not so violent, but there still came tears to Ranalla's eyes when the spell was lifted. Ganondorf took the hand of her healed arm, laid it on the wound, and laid his hands over it.

"Close your eyes, Madam," he said softly. "Try to send your magic to the wound. I will come to you with my magic and show you how to do it. You just need to follow me."

Ranalla closed her eyes and searched in her body for the place where the pain was. There she sent her magic and met a fine string that went through the wound like a glowing spiral. She looked for the beginning of the spiral, but she did not find it.

"Go inside, Madam," she heard his soft words.

She dug into the pain, and it hurt so much! But deep down, where it was almost dark around her, she found the beginning – and seized it. Like a fire on a fuse, her magic slowly crept up the spiral and took with itself the pain and destruction. When she reached the top, she broke from the end of the spiral and stepped back into the light. She felt his hands lift from her hand, and she opened her eyes in astonishment. She met his gaze, and he smiled.

"You did well, Madam," he said. "Come on, let's continue. You must straighten up. I will help you."

He stood up, took off his light vest, and came behind Ranalla. She felt him sit behind her, then he raised her shoulders and leaned her against his chest. She would have liked to snuggle up to him, but she did not dare to surrender to her longing.

"Bring your leg to you, Madam," he said. Ranalla pulled her leg up until she could reach the wound on her calf with her hands.

"Go," he ordered. After a few minutes, he lifted his hands from hers, and she opened her eyes with relief. This wound had been much smaller, and she had quickly found the beginning of the spiral. In the same way, she also healed the other two wounds on her legs and some minor scratches on her arms and neck. When they were done, she remained tense, for she did not know what to do. He lowered her shoulders gently back to the bed and stood up.

"Can you stand up, Madam?" he asked. She tried carefully, and she succeeded. In the places where the wounds had been, she had a slight burning pain, but the tissue was completely restored. He took a bag from the other chest and put some clothes from the dresser in it, then he came to her. She shuddered as he took her hand like he had done so often, and pulled her along with himself.

"Where are we going?" she asked hesitantly.

"Wait, Madam," he said, leading her out through the angled entrance. Out in the corridor, they found Risha, Soliris, Keli, and Anit, who were about to follow them. But Ganondorf laid his hand on Risha's shoulder and looked at her. He shook his head softly, and Risha raised her hand. She and the other three women stopped and bowed slightly, then went back to the entrance of the room where they had been waiting.

Ganondorf led Ranalla through the corridors of the Fortress, out one exit and in another entrance, over the sloping corridor, until they came down into the open again. No one met them in the corridors, and Ganondorf pulled her farther, down the great staircase, through the hollow path which she already knew, and then across the part of the Gerudo Valley that lay toward the Fortress. But he did not go to the bridge, but to the place where the rock wall that surrounded the valley met the edge of the ravine. Ranalla felt the barrier as they passed through, and then just a narrow strip lay between her and the edge of the ravine. Ganondorf put the bag around his shoulder and let go of her hand.

"Wait until I am down, then follow me, Madam," he said, and then he jumped down. Ranalla gasped as he disappeared in the darkness of the ravine. But then, deep down she saw a gentle blue light that was illuminating his figure from his hand. She called her magic and jumped down. Shortly before the ground, she slowed her fall and landed beside him on a narrow ledge, which clung to the rock wall of the ravine.

Below her she heard the water of the river that had dug this ravine into the rock in the course of eternity. Ganondorf put the bag on the ledge and came to her.

"We will leave our clothes here, Madam."

He helped her peel the sticking, cut-up clothes from her body and to take off her boots. Then he also took off his trousers and his boots, and took her hand.

"Can you swim, Madam?"

She nodded. "Keep to the edge of the canyon, for there the draw of the current is weakest. Swim up the river until you reach the waterfall. There is a pool there, and the water is shallower. Do not be afraid, I'll be behind you."

She jumped with him down into the water, which enclosed her body with coolness in the warm night. She let go of his hand and swam against the gentle current close to the rock wall toward the waterfall, which glimmered like silver in the light of the stars and of the torches on the bridge.

As she approached the waterfall, she realized that the water was getting shallower, and she could stand again, even though the water was still almost to her chest. Ganondorf was a few steps behind her and also stepped out of the deep water. While she had been swimming, Ranalla's body had become almost clean, but she submerged herself again to rinse the last of the blood from her face and hair.

Ganondorf came to her, took her hand, and led her even farther, until they were standing in the quiet pool behind the waterfall that was streaming above them like a protective curtain of light. The water in the basin was warm because it was almost still, and tiny waves tickled Ranalla's skin. Only now did she realize that they were both naked, and alone, and that he had not kissed her for a long time. But she still did not know...

She was just about to open her mouth to ask, but with a quick movement he grabbed her chin and turned her face toward him. Then his lips were on hers, and her body opened in a single moment. As he kissed her, he leaned down, took her hips in the water and lifted her up to him. She wrapped her legs around his body, and then she did not need to ask him anymore, for he slipped into her like a long-awaited answer that did not require any words. She kissed him greedily and wrapped her arms around his neck, clutching him with her body and whimpering as she felt his magic finally back with her. And down there in the depths, unseen and unheard, their passion merged with the loud murmur of the water to a promise that no one could ever doubt again.


	10. Chapter 10

A/N: Tranlations of the Gerudo phrases are at the end of the chapter text.

 **Chapter 10**

1

She clung greedily to his twitching body and pressed her pelvis against him to receive his powerful jet. He searched for her lips, and Ranalla let him find them. She kissed him exuberantly while his body slowly calmed down.

After the surprise over his sudden passion had passed, she had dropped all inhibitions and sent her complete magic to him in an unleashed stream, and had restored his strength. She would never have dreamed that such a thing was possible, and she proudly felt his gratitude that came to her with his magic.

"Are you all right, Madam?" he asked at her ear to drown out the loud roar of the waterfall. She pressed herself to him and nodded, and he turned with her to the rock wall behind the waterfall.

"Here is a ladder, Madam," he said. "I will place you on it. Please climb up to the niche."

"Niche?" she asked, but he just nodded and she felt the metal rungs under her bare feet. She turned around on the ladder and climbed cautiously, for the rungs were wet and slippery. After a while, she came to an edge in the rock wall and pulled herself up. She was standing in a niche in the rock that had the size of a small room. Before her, she saw the blue glimmer of a magical barrier, but it faded immediately as Ganondorf pulled up from the ladder behind her. Inside the niche, there was a wide bed that occupied it almost completely. She laughed and raised her hands full of wonder, and with a gesture, Ganondorf sent a warm whirl to her, that dried her skin and hair. With another whirl he dried himself, then he rebuilt the barrier behind them. He took her hand, went with her to the side of the bed, and folded back the covers. Silently, he gestured with his pointing finger to Ranalla, then to the bed, and Ranalla obeyed, smiling. Ganondorf lay down beside her and covered them both. He turned to her, put his arms around her, and closed his eyes. She felt him withdraw his magic and knew the next moment that he was asleep. Slowly, she stroked his arms around her body, while she let herself be sung to sleep by the sound of the waterfall outside.

2

She awoke as he stirred and sent his magic to her. He turned around and pressed her to himself with his arm around her shoulders.

 _"Granij tirin, ri-su ruad,"_ she said in Gerudo, although it was morning. _"Versil spartil sijes?"_

He laughed and stroked her body with his other hand under the covers. He could set her on fire with such a simple touch, and she closed her eyes. She knew what would follow, but first she wanted some answers from him. She turned to him and supported her body with her elbow.

"When exactly did you intend to tell me about Sirla, Your Majesty?" she asked.

He turned his face to her and looked at her with serious eyes.

"Not at all," he said. "For me, this matter was finished the moment I saw you on the bridge for the first time, Madam. Actually, even before, because when I learned about you from the guards, I withdrew immediately and renounced the test fight."

"And if you had fought with her?"

"Then she would have kissed me and I would have been with her that night, Madam, and she would be pregnant with my daughter now."

Ranalla felt her heart pounding violently.

"How many daughters do you have in the Fortress, Your Majesty?" she asked.

"Nine," he replied without hesitation. "Sirla's daughter would have been the tenth."

"Are there Sisters who have chosen you more than once?"

"No, Madam. The Code does not permit that."

"When were you chosen for the first time by a Sister?"

"When I was sixteen."

"Who chose you?"

He smiled and snorted softly. "Do you really want to know, Madam?"

She thought. "No," she said, shaking her head.

Ganondorf pulled her face to his and kissed her.

"Any more questions?" he asked kindly.

She nodded, and again her heart grew faster. Nabooru had already answered her next question, but she wanted to hear it from him.

"Have you ever chosen a Sister yourself?"

"No, Madam. You are the first woman I have chosen in my life. And you will also be the last, as far as I am concerned."

Ranalla felt her body warm, for she saw the sincerity in his eyes.

"Why did you interrupt our fight last night?"

"Because Sirla would probably have killed you if I had not intervened. She was certainly determined to do so. You could only have stopped her by using your magic, and by doing that you would have given up your claim for me."

"What will Sirla do now?"

"I do not know, Madam. There has never been such a case in the history of our people. I cannot say how far she will go."

Ranalla swallowed, for the next question was the most difficult to ask.

"If... if you would give Sirla a daughter, Your Majesty..."

He looked at her with a wistful smile and shook his head softly. Then he straightened and pulled her into his arms.

 _"Andrys, Ranalla ill Sheikah,"_ he said, and then he kissed her lips. "Do you really think I could ever be with another woman again after I have made love to you, Madam?"

3

They were both swimming in the water of the river under the narrow ledge where Ganondorf had left their clothes. Ranalla looked up and wondered how to reach the ledge. She looked helplessly at Ganondorf, whose long hair was hovering behind him in the water. He smiled.

"Use your magic, Madam," he said. Then he submerged and Ranalla saw him slowly sinking to the ground in the water. He pushed his legs off and flipped up. He pierced the surface of the water powerfully and flew through the air to the ledge. He grabbed the edge with his hands and pulled himself up to the platform, then turned to her and waved challengingly.

"Come, Madam!" he called.

Ranalla took a deep breath and let herself sink to the ground. She bent her knees, stretched her arms up, and called her magic to support her leap. Then she pushed herself off and glided upwards through the water. As her body broke through the surface of the water, she felt her magic balance the suddenly increased weight of her body and strengthen her drive. She flew even higher than Ganondorf and had to slow her fall as she landed slowly beside him on the ledge. He was waiting for her and took her into his arms when she reached him. He was already dry, and while he kissed her, she felt his warm magic flowing over her body and drying it. Then he fetched a fresh, red tunic of a light, flowing material from his bag, as well as a pair of wide, red trousers with long, gathered trouser legs. Ranalla looked at him questioningly, and he shrugged.

"I took the first clothes I found, Madam. I hope they will suit you."

Ranalla smiled. Somehow she doubted that he had seized the garments as casually as he claimed.

"May I show you how one puts them on?" he asked, winking at her with a mischievous smile. This confirmed her suspicions.

"You just want..." she began, but had to break off as he kissed her again.

"Yes, Madam, I do," he said with a shameless grin. "You will find that I am a bold, lustful lecher, when it comes to you, who takes absolutely every opportunity to put his hands on you."

Ranalla burst into a laugh and surrendered to her fate. He let her put her feet into the trousers while she was leaning against his shoulders, then he closed the clasp on the waistband. He pulled the tunic over her head, and the soft, smooth, cool fabric stroked her skin. Ganondorf then took a pair of trousers and a fresh vest, which he had also brought in the bag. With a gesture of his hand, he swept the old, bloody, cut-up clothes to a small heap and burned them to dust.

Once again, Ranalla looked up to where the bridge across the ravine was connecting the two parts of the Gerudo Valley. Ganondorf took her hand and said:

"Let's try it together, Madam. Do the same as you did at the Temple when you defeated me... in battle."

Ranalla nodded, and then, with the help of their magic, they leaped through the barrier and landed on the rocky ground of the Valley.

As they went to the opening in the rock wall leading to the path to the Fortress, Ranalla thought with joy and pride of the words Ganondorf had used to answer her last question.

 _Andrys, Ranalla ill Sheikah._

 _I love you, Ranalla from the Sheikah._

Although it was morning, they had spoken Gerudo, but he had said these words to her in her own language. He had derived the verb correctly from the word for love – _Andyr_ – and had used the correct form, without the pronoun, just as the tradition of the Sheikah demanded. She decided to ask him about that later.

At his hand, Ranalla walked along the hollow path and then up the stairs to the Fortress. Letria had led her through the Fortress the day before, and Ranalla noticed that Ganondorf was making his way to the dining room. When they arrived, they found Risha, who was standing in front of the entrance and seemed to be waiting for them. Ganondorf nodded to her and Risha went ahead, leading them through the almost fully occupied dining room to a smaller table near the wall. Ranalla recognized the three other guards who rose from the table and bowed.

"Thank you, Risha," said Ganondorf, nodding to the guard again. Like his room, a table also seemed to be reserved for him when he was in the Fortress.

When he and Ranalla had taken their seats opposite each other, the four guards went to the adjacent kitchen. They came back with the breakfast that Ranalla already knew from the Temple, put the settings and bowls on the table, and then retreated.

While Ranalla poured some of the cereal into her bowl, a little girl of about five years suddenly came to her and climbed onto her lap. She had dark red hair and the golden eyes of the Gerudo. Ranalla looked confusedly at Ganondorf, who laughed and shrugged.

"What's your name?" the girl asked in Gerudo.

"I am Ranalla," said Ranalla kindly. "And what is your name?"

"I am Lureli," said the girl. "Sister Letria says you're Sheikah, and that the Sheikah get very old. How old are you?"

Ranalla gasped. Ganondorf looked at her so full of curiosity and expectation that she laughed.

"What would you say, Lureli?" she asked.

Lureli thought. "I think you're as old as my mama," she said.

"And who is your mama?" Ranalla asked with a look at Ganondorf, who grimaced disappointed.

The girl pulled Ranalla's face toward her and whispered into her ear. "She is the queen of the guards, and she caught you!" Ranalla had to laugh again, and Lureli jumped from her lap and ran to another table behind Ranalla, where she saw Weri, who was waving cheerfully to her. Ranalla smiled and waved back, but as she turned her head, she was horrified, because she saw Sirla, who had stepped to their table. Her heart was beating wildly, and she did not know what to do. She looked at Ganondorf, but he quietly ate his cereal and looked at Sirla.

Sirla stared at Ranalla with a serious face.

"Greet the face of the sun, Sirla," said Ganondorf. "Are you all right?"

At the sound of his voice, Sirla cringed and turned to him.

"I am fine, Your Majesty," she said, gesturing a bow. "I have come to thank you for healing my wounds."

"You're welcome," said Ganondorf with a slight smile.

Sirla turned back to Ranalla.

"His Majesty told me yesterday that you were looking for a horse," she said.

Ranalla shuddered. She had forgotten that.

"Yes?" she said.

"After breakfast, come to the training ground behind the Fortress. I can show you some horses there." Then she turned around and went away.

Ranalla stared after her as if stunned. She swallowed hard and turned back to her breakfast. As she led her spoon to her mouth, she noticed that Ganondorf was looking at her curiously.

"What?" she asked, frowning. "Have I done anything wrong, Your Majesty?"

"No, Madam. But what Sirla just said was an offer of armistice. This does not mean that she gives up her alleged claim for me, but I think she will not try to kill you anymore."

4

It was a difficult task that lay before her, and she had to do it alone. After breakfast, she said goodbye to Ganondorf and went to the exercise area behind the Fortress to choose her horse. The sun was warm on her white hair, and the thin fabric of her clothes, which Ganondorf had put her on, was fluttering in the gentle breeze. When she arrived at the exercise place, she saw Sirla standing at the edge of the square with three horses. Ranalla took a deep breath, took heart and went to her.

 _"Granij rinnan lastis, Sirla."_

 _"Lissu va,"_ said Sirla. Immediately, she came to the point. "Which horse would you like to ride first?"

"None," said Ranalla.

Sirla frowned confused. "Don't you like the horses?"

"Yes, I like them all very well. But I want you to pick the best for me."

"But... you need to..."

Ranalla smiled. "I trust your judgment, Sirla."

Without leaving Ranalla's eyes, Sirla gave a slight bow. Then she began to circle the horses one after the other, and to examine them closely. Ranalla watched her and waited patiently until Sirla seemed to have made a decision. She came to Ranalla and pointed to the middle horse, a brown-spotted mare.

"If you ask me, I would take this one."

"What's her name?" Ranalla asked.

 _"Druja,"_ said Sirla.

 _Girlfriend,_ translated Ranalla in her mind.

"Thank you, Sirla," said Ranalla. "Please make sure that Druja is ready tonight when we ride back to the Temple."

"As you wish," Sirla said, bowing again. Ranalla wanted to turn around and leave, but Sirla reached out and held Ranalla by her arm. Ranalla looked at Sirla's hand on her arm, and Sirla let go of her.

"I don't know how old you are, Sheikah," she said. "But if it's true what Letria said, you will lose Ganondorf Dragmire long before you die. I hope you love him as much as he loves you, because then his death will be as painful to you as his withdrawal was for me."

"Why do you hate me so much?" Ranalla asked. "If he had not built up the barrier in front of the bridge, I would have entered the Fortress unseen and went out again without anyone noticing. It would have not hurt anyone and you would be pregnant with your daughter now. I did not want to take him from you. I did not want him to withdraw. I did not want him to... _choose_ me."

"What did you want, then, Sheikah?" Sirla asked gloomily. "If I had lost him to one of the Sisters, I could have chosen him again. But _you..._ you are not a _Sister._ You are... what he was searching for! You are his _Ren-Bird._ He will never let you go again, as long as he lives. You didn't take him away only from me, Sheikah. You took him from all the Sisters who would have chosen him. You took him from the whole people of the Gerudo!"

"Do you think it would have changed anything if you had killed me?"

"I don't know. I was prepared to die for him to be free. But... he has healed me and I am in his debt. You better get pregnant quickly, Sheikah, because if you do not, you are living with him, but no Sister will recognize you as a queen. Ganondorf knows that, and if you do not give him a daughter..."

Ranalla swallowed. She took a step back so Sirla could not hold her back anymore, then she turned and walked away.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

 _Granij tirin, ri-su ruad._ \- Greet the morning, Your Majesty. _  
_ _Versil spartil sijes?_ \- Did you sleep well? _  
_


	11. Chapter 11

**Chapter 11**

1

Ranalla spent the rest of the day wandering through the Fortress and talking to several Sisters. Everyone was kind to her, and they showed her how the carpets and the fabrics were made that they sold at the markets of Hyrule. At lunch, she met Letria and Weri. She would have liked to talk with them about the accusations Sirla had stated against her, but she did not dare. She feared that Sirla was right, and that perhaps many Sisters regarded her as an intruder who had taken their only man.

She remembered the evening ten weeks ago when she had seen Ganondorf for the first time. She had seen the joy in his eyes that he had found her. He had treated her courteously and with respect, but also with a possessive, exuberant desire, which had nipped every resistance in the bud. She wondered if she would have succumbed to his impulsive fire if she did not have the task to seduce him.

 _But no..._

There had been no chance at all to seduce him. From the first moment she had seen him and heard his voice, she had wanted him with the same feverish desire that he had had to awaken her magic in order to love her with her complete magic. She remembered Rauru's words in the Chamber of the Sages.

 _There is a reason that you have been chosen._

She was what Ganondorf was looking for, Sirla had said.

Had the Goddess chosen her for this reason? Because they needed each other?

After dinner, which the four guards had served again for her and Ganondorf in the large dining room, she went with him to the gate that protected the exit to the desert. This time there were six horses there, Ganondorf's dark horse still without a saddle. The four guards were already sitting on their horses, waiting for them. She came with Ganondorf to the horses and he raised his eyebrows appreciatively when he saw Druja.

"This is a beautiful horse, Madam," he said. "You have chosen well."

"I have not chosen it, Your Majesty," she replied. He looked at her in amazement. "Sirla chose it."

"Why did Sirla choose it?" he asked suspiciously.

Ranalla swallowed and looked at the four guards who were watching them.

"Look at me, Madam!" he ordered. "Why did Sirla choose the horse?"

"Because, Your Majesty," Ranalla said, looking into his eyes and trying to make her voice sound calm, "I cannot ride."

His eyes widened. "But..." he stammered. "...why didn't you ever say something? I could have taught you..."

"You never asked," said Ranalla. "You simply..."

"...assumed that you can," Ganondorf said, nodding. "Yes, I did, Madam." He chuckled and thought. "All right," he said, giggling. "Then the mare will have to go without you this time."

He glanced at Risha, and she came and took Druja's reins. Then he lifted Ranalla on his horse again, and mounted behind her. The gate was pulled up, and when they reached the quicksand field and the mark lit up, the guards rode ahead as on the first evening, taking Druja with them.

It was dark, but the moon was bright in the sky, illuminating the glittering, flowing sand of the quicksand field. If it had not been so deadly, she would have liked to take something from it, thought Ranalla. The large black horse followed the blue shimmering mark without Ganondorf having to do much to steer it, and as they entered the nocturnal mists of the Wasteland, he held Ranalla and let loose the reins. When Ranalla had seen the ground of the Wasteland in the daylight, her fear of the thick fog had faded, so she gratefully gave in to Ganondorf's caresses when he pressed her to himself and sent his magic to her. He let his free hand, that was holding her, wander down to her hips, and then it slid over her skin under the soft fabric of her tunic. She felt small magical whirls breaking from his fingers, flowing toward the most hidden spots of her body. She closed her eyes and felt his lips on her neck as the whirls caressed her and sought their way.

 _I will love you, Madam, with everything I have..._

His hand was hot on her body, and Ranalla could barely bear the longing.

"Your Majesty..." she breathed. "I..."

He whispered softly to her ear.

"Shh... Quiet, Madam. Send me your magic and enjoy. I have dreamed for so long of giving you this!"

Ranalla sent her complete magic to him and felt at her back how his heart beat faster. She heard him sigh, and he pressed her to himself, and she leaned into his arm, whose hand beneath her tunic caressed her breast and sent his whirls to her. Her muscles tightened as more whirls crawled over her body under the fabric, and panting, she gave in to their urging. His fiery lips came to hers at the moment when the whirls finally fulfilled their task, and her body reared up in a blissful shudder. He kissed her feverishly, and she felt him greedily drink from her lips the joy he had given her.

What would have happened if she had had her full magic from the beginning? Would Ganondorf have given her this fulfillment already in the first night? Would he have taken her up to the pavilion at once? While Ganondorf held her and kissed her, she wondered if she would have allowed it...

But in her mind, she no longer had any doubt.

2

She felt him urging the horse with the muscles of his thighs, and its pace grew faster. He pulled away from her and she sat upright again.

"Try to follow the movements of the horse with your body, Madam," he said softly.

"Then you must put your hand... elsewhere, Your Majesty," said Ranalla. "I cannot concentrate otherwise. And the whirls... you must also... ah..."

"That is not possible Madam," he said with a smile, and kissed her neck again on her collarbone. "I told you, I will take every opportunity to put my hands on you. I am not sure whether I really want to teach you riding... As long as you cannot, you have to ride with me, and then I can..."

But they had arrived. The horse carefully descended the embankment, went through the barrier, under the stone gate, and stopped before the entrance of the Temple. Risha was standing there with a torch in her hand and was waiting to take care of Ganondorf's horse. He dismounted and took Ranalla down. When he had put her on the ground, he took her hand and pulled her with him. His magic was still with her, and she tried to keep in touch with his magic while she ran, but she could not. Ganondorf looked briefly at her, as her magic left him, then he strove further, through the corridors lit by torches and up the stairs.

"Do not worry, Madam," he said as he followed the path upward to the double doors. "I will teach you how to keep the connection."

She noticed that he was getting faster, and his hand that was holding hers was shaking. She looked into his face, which was framed by his long hair. He noticed her gaze and stopped before the double doors a step below Ranalla to kiss her. He grabbed her upper arms with both hands and kissed her with firm pressure, letting her feel his desire.

"Come, Madam," he urged. "I want to feel you with your complete magic. I want to be with you and make love to you, as I have dreamed. I am longing for you, and I will not wait."

Ranalla felt her body tremble, but after the experience on the horse she wanted to challenge him a bit. Smiling, she broke away from him and said, "Catch me, Your Majesty, but without magic!" Then, like two evenings before, she jumped through the hole in the wall that she had created with her magic. She landed on the moonlit platform, rolled off and rose quickly, then she ran backward to the garden, to the glimmering barrier.

The hole in the wall was too small for Ganondorf, and he had to go through the doors. As she ran, Ranalla looked back and in the bright light of the moon, and she saw him close the doors behind himself and run after her. He was fast, because with his tall figure he had longer legs than she did, and he quickly came closer. She ran through the barrier, but he had almost reached her. Behind the barrier she turned immediately to the right and ran in the moonlight through the forest, on the path she knew, to the clearing with the pavilion.

When she passed the spring, the garden lit up, for Ganondorf had kindled the lights with his magic. But she did not hear him behind her and frowned. Still, as fast as she could, she ran past the vegetable beds, and then she turned around the natural hedge that was hiding the grassy area. The lonely light-ball in the corner of the meadow illuminated the pavilion, which lay only a few steps before her. She would reach it at once, and breathlessly she wanted to follow her way over the narrow path, but a firm hand grabbed her suddenly, whirled her around, and threw her down onto the soft grass. She screamed with fright and wanted to get up, but he was over her and pressed her arms to the ground. He was much stronger than her, and she knew she had no chance to escape him. He was breathing quickly and his magic wrapped around her, and a gesture of his hand swept the thin tunic and the wide trousers from her body like a gust of wind. He pressed her into the grass, and while he was holding her bound and kissing her stormily, she sent her magic to him and removed his clothes. He broke away from her and looked with greedy eyes at her, and Ranalla lifted her body to him to receive him. She watched his face as he lowered his body to her, and proudly she saw how he panted and shuddered when she let him in. At that moment he was helpless, and she wanted to give him what he had given her out in the Wasteland. So she wrapped her legs around his body and threw herself to the side with him. He pressed her to himself and rolled with her on his back, and she straightened up and began to move, while she continued watching his face. His hands stroked her hips and supported her movements. On the little impulses of his eyes and lips she recognized what he wanted, and his reactions to her movements showed her the way. He grew faster, and she adapted to his rhythm, until he closed his eyes, groaning and twitching underneath her. Quickly, she lowered her body to his and kissed him to taste his pleasure. And for a moment, she felt full of wonder as to what he felt, and a blissful connection with him took hold of her being.

Was that what he wanted? This connection, this unity with her? How did he know about that?

When his body calmed down, she pulled away from him and he looked at her, smiling.

"How did you get past me?" she asked. "You cheated!"

"No, Madam," he said, laughing, shaking his head. "You took a detour, and I just took the straight path."

3

Eventually, he drew back the light from the light balls and carried her in his arms to the bed in the pavilion. The moon had wandered a long way over the clear sky, and Ranalla's eyes closed as Ganondorf laid her down and covered her. After a few moments she felt his weight beside her, then his lips, and his arms, which drew her to him. She no longer knew how many times they had made love, outside, under the sky, in the cool grass that was tickling her skin. Her body was exhausted and her magic was pulsing slowly from the last fulfillment she had felt in his arms.

"Sleep, Madam..." he whispered at her ear, and she felt his face digging into her hair, and his breath on her neck as he took in her smell.

How should she sleep like that?

But fatigue overwhelmed her, and the next thing she knew was the morning sun glimmering at her face through the leaves of the trees. She turned her head and looked at Ganondorf, who was lying beside her, holding her tightly to himself. His eyes were closed, and on his face lay a relaxed, peaceful expression that made Ranalla smile. She peeled out of his embrace, rose slightly, and bowed to him to kiss his sleeping lips. He gave the slightest start, but then his hands came to her again and pressed her to him. His body was warm from sleep, and she knew that breakfast would have to wait a little longer for them.

The second night in his bed in the pavilion was over, and after washing in the basin of the spring, they went into the large living room where the breakfast table was set for them. So much had happened, and Ranalla could hardly believe that since her first night with Ganondorf not even three days had passed.

As they sat down at the table, Ranalla felt his magic coming to her. She sent her magic to him and saw how he closed his eyes and smiled.

"That's right, Madam. Try to hold the connection while we eat."

She had to concentrate in order to keep up the connection, and she barely managed to chew the soaked grains. Her fingers trembled as she tried to cut a pear into her mash, and Ganondorf took the knife from her and finished it for her.

"How... how can you do that so effortlessly, Your Majesty?" she asked him. He looked at her smiling and stroked her cheek.

"I do not have to do anything, Madam," he said. "My magic goes to you by itself, I just have to let go of it. Don't you know? I've been waiting for you all my life. Whenever I had let my magic go, I had found no one to answer. Can you imagine what it means to me that your magic answers me? That I can feel you this way?" He swallowed and shook his head. "It is the fulfillment of my dream."

Ranalla lowered her eyes embarrassed, but he turned to her and raised her face with his hands.

"Madam, my magic was never trapped. I have always had my complete magic at my disposal. Your magic has now awoken, but you must still learn to let go of it, so that it can do its work. I will try to teach you. But first we start riding lessons. Immediately after breakfast, you will ride on Druja."

Ranalla gasped, and the connection of her magic to Ganondorf trembled at the thought of the lessons, for she had never been alone on a horse.

Before the Goddess had rescued her from the disaster, Ranalla had never left the village of the community. Her special abilities were in the leadership of the community, in the organization of life in the village, and in the teaching of the young members of her people. She had taught Ganondorf her mother tongue, and his keen mind and his untiring desire to learn had made it a fulfilling task for her. Riding, however, was something completely new to her, and she was a bit afraid of the unfamiliar situation.

Slowly, she took another spoonful of the soaked grains in her bowl and tried to concentrate on the simple movements of chewing, while her magic remained at Ganondorf.

She felt his magic stroking and arousing her body. Breathing heavily, she closed her eyes as a rain of sweet showers flowed over her skin, taking away all her strength. Why did he do this to her?

"Your Majesty..." she stammered. "You..." Slowly, she placed her bowl on the table. When she opened her eyes, she felt his gaze and looked at him. A mischievous smile lay on his lips, and anger crawled into her mind. She wanted to withdraw her magic, but he shook his head sternly.

"Leave it with me, Madam," he said softly. "Forgive me, I could not resist. I will be good now, I promise."

Ranalla felt her mind become clear again, and his magic became still. It was still with her, but the exciting caresses of her body stopped. He gave her back her bowl, and she ate with grim determination, while in her mind a decision formed. She wanted to pay him back. She would learn everything he wanted to teach her, and then she would take his body into her possession with her magic and...

But until then she wanted to enjoy him. Every evening she wanted to be with him and lie in his arms, feel the connection to his magic, and let the Treasure grow slowly inside her.

After breakfast, he took her hand and went out with her, round the corner of the Temple, to the stables in the rocks. In the equipment shed he took a halter and put it on his horse. Then he gave her another halter and showed her how she could put it on Druja. They both led their horses outside and tied them to metal eyes barely visible in the rough rock wall.

When the two horses were standing out in the sun, Ranalla once more noticed the difference between them. Ganondorf's horse was much taller than Druja, and its black, shiny coat with the flaming red mane made it an impressive sight.

"What's the name of your horse?" she asked as they went back to get the saddle and the bridle.

"He is called _Desert Wind,_ Madam," said Ganondorf. They were speaking Sheikah, for it was morning.

 _"Sardun,"_ Ranalla translated to Gerudo. Ganondorf smiled delightedly.

"Right, Madam, that's his name."

"Where is he from?" she asked. "He is taller than the other horses."

"Yes, Madam. I needed a horse that can carry my weight because I did not want to let it suffer. I had to travel to the most remote area of Labrynna where the Rislan live, a tribe of tall sand people who breed these horses. Sardun is accustomed to the desert, and since I have had him he has done me good service."

"What did you have to give the sand people for Sardun, Your Majesty?" Ranalla asked, but the moment she asked, she thought she knew the answer.

"A good sword, Madam, and..." said Ganondorf, but broke off with an embarrassed expression.

Ranalla blinked and turned her head to the side with a small stab in her heart.

"Wait, Madam," said Ganondorf, taking her arm. "It's not how you think. You need not be jealous."

"I'm not..." Ranalla wanted to burst out. But he kissed her and cut off her sentence, which had not been honest anyway.

"Yes, you are, Madam," he said. "But listen. Nartil, the eldest son of the chief, was seeking a wife, and he came with me to the Fortress. One of the Sisters who had watch service on the bridge rushed at him when she saw him, and he had to fight with her immediately. She had just reached maturity, and he defeated her in a few moments. Then she kissed him and took him to the Fortress. The next morning they were gone along with their horses. I had my horse and we never saw her again."

Ranalla breathed a sigh of relief as he took her face in his hands and kissed her again. Tears came into her eyes and she was annoyed at herself that she had let herself be carried to such a reaction.

"Forgive me, Your Majesty," she begged as he pulled away. "I thought..."

He shook his head, smiling.

"Does it often occur that a Sister leaves the community?"

"No, Madam. As far as I can remember, this was the only occurrence. I still fear that the chief will one day come back and want to have his horse back, because Lyris – that was the name of the Sister who went with his son – only gives birth to daughters."

Ranalla laughed, and he put his arm around her shoulders and pulled her further with a gesture of his head.

In the equipment shed, Ganondorf brought the saddle and bridle for Druja, which Sirla had given to the horse the day before, and showed Ranalla how she could carry everything. Then he took his saddle and the bridle for Sardun.

"How long had you been with the sand people?" Ranalla asked as they went outside again.

"Just two days, Madam," Ganondorf replied. "We agreed quickly, but I had to stay another day because the son of the chief was still on the way."

"Did he get the sword?"

Ganondorf snorted quietly, shaking his head with a smile.

"No, Madam," he said. "That was a peculiar story. Chief Tral had a second son. His name was _Skyr_ , that means _rain_ in their language. Skyr was about twelve years old at that time, and while I was waiting for his brother to come home, he was following me everywhere, staring at my sword. Finally, he found the courage to ask me with gestures to allow him to look at it. I allowed it, and on that occasion I taught him a few words of Gerudo. Already at that time I liked to use large, two-handed swords, Madam, and this sword was longer than Skyr himself.

The next morning I left with Nartil, but after a few hours' walk, Skyr suddenly appeared on his horse from behind a rock. He had ridden ahead during the night and had been waiting for us, because he wanted to come with us. His brother tried to send him back, but Skyr refused."

Ganondorf paused and his mind seemed to linger in the memory.

"And? Did you take him with you?" Ranalla asked curiously.

Ganondorf shook his head again and chuckled.

"This Skyr was a cunning fellow, Madam. With the few bits of Gerudo that he had learned from me, he made it clear to me that he would obey if I gave him my sword. I did not want to simply give away my sword, so I suggested taking him with us, but his brother would not agree. Finally, I gave Skyr my sword so that he rode back home, for his big brother said that his mother would cut off his hair if something happened to Skyr."

"Cut off his hair?" Ranalla asked in amazement.

"Yes, Madam," Ganondorf replied, smiling. "The hair of these people grows very slowly, and it takes many years until it reaches a certain length. The hair of a man is a sort of symbol for his... well... manliness."

Ranalla had to giggle, but when she looked at him, he twitched his eyebrows mischievously, and she laughed. With an ambiguous look she examined his hair. "When it comes to manliness, you honour your name, _Lorin ill Deron ill Andyr."_

"Oh, thank you, Madam," he said, embarrassed. "The women of the sand people also seemed to be of this opinion, because they..."

He broke off as Ranalla looked suspiciously at him.

"What?" she asked, waiting for him to continue.

"They... were trying to enter my tent at night, Madam. But the chief had set up guards, and I heard them scolding the women. At least, I suspect that it was about me, because I did not understand their language. The chief and his elder son sometimes went to the tournaments at Hyrule Castle, and therefore spoke a little Hylian, but no one else."

"What about the women's hair, Your Majesty?" Ranalla asked again to divert herself from the new twinge of jealousy that stung her like a pointed needle.

"It was the same as with the men, Madam, only that the length of their hair was apparently translated to fertility. The longest hair I saw among the women of the tribe went to their chests. Sister Lyris, like many other Sisters, had hair that went to her hips when it was open. Nartil thought he was standing before a goddess when he saw her."

Ranalla thought of Sirla, whose hair reached as far as her waist, just as Ganondorf's did. Her own white hair went to the middle of bicep...

They had arrived, and Ganondorf seemed to guess her thoughts, for he laid his saddle on the ground, then took hers from her arms and put it down. He stepped close to her and took her face in his hands.

"The longest hair in the world cannot compare with what I have felt since I have been with you, Madam," he said. "With the Gerudo, long hair is nothing special because they all have it. We love it because it is a symbol of the beauty and health of our people, but we do not attach any importance to it, like the sand people do."

He kissed her tenderly and Ranalla felt his magic coming to her. Like at breakfast, it caressed her body, and she felt his love in his magic and in his kiss.

"By the way, you have the most beautiful lips I have ever seen, Madam," he whispered as he parted from her. "Their sight gave me a very, very hard time when I was waiting for your magic to be released. Already there on the bridge..."

He broke off and kissed her again, full of passion this time, and Ranalla enjoyed the feeling of power over him as she realized that he was pulling away from her only with reluctance, to begin the riding lessons.

4

Sighing, Ganondorf lifted his saddle and carefully placed it on Sardun's back. He tightened the straps, then bridled his horse slowly so that Ranalla could watch closely, and Ranalla had to imitate him with her horse. He came and examined the straps and the position of the saddle and brought her attention to her mistakes. Then he removed everything from Druja and Ranalla had to do it again. With the second examination, he was content. He had her lift a foot, looked at the soles of her boots, and shook his head.

"Come, Madam," he said. "We will have a look at the boots of the guards; maybe we find a pair that fits you. I'm afraid your boots are not suitable for riding. We'll ride to the Fortress again tonight, and get a new pair for you."

They went back to the stable and Ranalla found a pair of boots that fit her. She put them on and they returned to the horses.

"It's easier to get into the saddle from an elevated point, Madam," said Ganondorf. "It is also better for the horse, because this way his back will not be stressed needlessly. But I will also show you how to do it without such a help, and how you can mount when you ride without a saddle."

In the back corner, near the entrance to the stable, she had noticed a lonely boulder two days earlier, the one that Ganondorf had used to mount behind her on Sardun. Now he had Ranalla lead Druja there and showed her how she could mount from the stone. Then she learned to mount without using the boulder, and Ganondorf showed her patiently all the movements she had to perform. With each of his touches, she felt his magic brushing her, but it was pleasant, comforting, and encouraging for her. Ganondorf let her practice every method until she had memorized the movement, but Ranalla soon decided to use the boulder whenever possible.

When lunch came, Ranalla was able to signalize to the horse, with the muscles of her legs, movements of her body, and her hands on the reins, that it should move or stop, and that it should go to the right or left. Druja was a patient horse who did everything Ranalla wanted, and Ranalla was grateful to Sirla for choosing Druja. Perhaps Sirla had seen through her and had deliberately given her a calm horse that would help her learn to ride.

Ganondorf was content with her and showed her at the end of her lesson how she could take the bridle and saddle off Druja, how she could take care of her and feed her. When she had finished everything, she realized how hungry she herself was. From the effort, she was drenched in sweat and her clothes stuck to her body. She would have liked to have washed herself and dressed in fresh clothes, but she also knew that he had planned a lot more for her.

5

In the afternoon, Ganondorf brought her a scimitar. It was sharp, but he ran his hand over the blade, creating a thin blue barrier at the edge. Ranalla had to fight against him until sunset. He was merciless, and this time she was not allowed to use her magic.

As the sun sank behind the rock of the Temple, Ranalla's entire body was hurting. Ganondorf's large sword had not cut her, but she had bruises and abrasions everywhere on her body, and her muscles were trembling and aching so hard that she could barely stand upright. Stubbornly, she had endured all day without complaining, but when Ganondorf laid his blade on her chest at the last glimmer of the sun, her knees gave way, and she sank into the sand without a word. He came to her, took the sword from her hand and lifted her into his arms. As she closed her eyes and let him carry her – where, she did not know, and it was no longer important to her – she asked herself in the last conscious moments how she was to ride with him to the Fortress after dinner.

She awoke as she felt herself sink down, and realized, startled, that she was naked. She was still lying in his arms, but around her was water, warm water. As she looked around she saw a blue barrier around the basin of the spring, that was gently illuminated by a white light-ball. He put her on the sandy bottom of the basin in the water and supported her head with his arm.

"Send your magic to your pain, Madam," he said softly to her ear. "Where does it hurt?"

"Every... where..." she stammered, trying to send her magic to the place on her thigh, that was burning in the warm water. She remembered that she had slipped over the rough rock when Ganondorf's blow had thrown her sideways and knocked her over.

"Thigh..." she breathed, closing her eyes. Ganondorf's magic was already there and led her with its luminous spiral, as her magic slowly rose from the inside outwards and healed the wound. The burning faded, and Ranalla looked for the next pain.

"Left... shoulder..." There was a bruise as big as her palm, where Ganondorf's sword had hit her almost with full force. She guessed that he would have smashed the joint if she had not retreated at the last moment to soften the blow. She followed his spiral and had to go deep inside to find the beginning.

"Very well, Madam," he praised her. "Where is the next spot?"

"Right calf," she said, noting that her voice was growing stronger again. At that spot Ganondorf's deep blow had hit her when she had remembered too late that she was not allowed to use her magic to support her leap. He had swept her from her feet and she had fallen into the sand, screaming with pain. As her magic came out to the surface, she felt Ganondorf's lips on hers and thought she had never been so grateful for his kiss.

"You did well, Madam," he said. "Relax, I will take care of the rest now."

She felt his hand glide over her body in the water with the healing heat, as he kissed her again. She wanted to fall asleep, but he did not let her, and while he was healing her, he touched all her sensitive spots, until she trembled under his hand and clung to him greedily. Then a magical whirl came from his tongue in her mouth, and the sudden memory of the peculiar dream made her shudder. He held her face to his, while the whirl spread in her body and shot like a scorching fire through her limbs. With a shriek, she reared up and was wide-awake within a moment. She felt revitalized and strengthened, and looked at him, blinking and amazed.

"What was that?" she asked. "What did you do with me?"

"I gave you some of my magic, Madam," he said. "We still have to ride to the Fortress and I wanted you to be awake. You need to eat something. You can give me back the magic later, when we go to sleep. Are you all right?"

Ranalla listened to her body. She had no more pain, but his hands on her body had begun something that she wanted to finish. Ganondorf was sitting on the edge of the basin, waiting for her reply, but then he guessed her thoughts.

"Here or in the pavilion?" he asked with raised eyebrows, but Ranalla used her newly gained strength to remove the wet trousers he was still wearing from his body, and pleased, she noticed his readiness for her game. After all her wounds and the pain in her muscles had healed, she could easily get up and kiss him as she sank to him and took him in. His magic enveloped her from the outside, but the part he had given her was also caressing her from inside. It absorbed her sensations and gave them back to her a thousandfold, and in the end she thought that she was dying with pleasure when he pressed her panting body to himself and she felt his fulfillment.


	12. Chapter 12

A/N:  
Here comes Chapter 12 where the song of the Ren-Bird is mentioned for the first time. I posted the song on youtube. Unfortunately, I can not post the link here, but if you want to hear it, you may search for the channel of the user _Surlan ill Regar_ or directly for the Song The Longing of the Ren-Bird.

Translations of the Gerudo phrases are at the end of the chapter text.

Enjoy!

 **Chapter 12**

1

Dinner was difficult for Ranalla, because Ganondorf's magic was raging inside her, and she felt like she had to do something great, something important. His magic was different, it was wild, untamed and powerful, and Ranalla could hardly bear to sit still on her chair and eat the leaves and the vegetables.

"How can you stand this?" she asked Ganondorf, while her fists clenched and her legs were fidgeting on the chair. "I feel like I want to turn the world upside down!"

"You must merge your magic with the foreign magic, Madam; only then will it obey you."

"But how can I give it back to you?" Ranalla asked.

"It will come when I call it, Madam," said Ganondorf.

"And how can I merge it with my magic?"

"I could not yet try it out myself, Madam, but I think it should work like healing. Find out where the foreign magic is and send your magic there."

Ranalla looked at him, frowning. "All right," she said. "It can hardly get worse. Why do you want to go to the Fortress tonight, anyway?"

"Because I want to see you riding through the desert in the dark, Madam."

"I'm supposed to ride Druja?" she asked indignantly.

"Of course, Madam. Only this way can you and Druja learn to follow the mark."

She stared at him, aghast, and shook her head. But then she closed her eyes and leaned back in her chair. She searched for Ganondorf's magic in her body and found it quickly, for it blazed like a raging fire inside her. With a deep breath, she sent her magic there and let it slowly approach his magic. The foreign magic pulsed and reached out for hers with greedy fingers, and Ranalla felt its desire and its longing. She let her magic open and invited the other to join it.

And it came.

With a cry, Ranalla opened her eyes and gasped as Ganondorf's magic flowed into hers and mingled with it. It was like a sweet pain that twitched through her being, and for a moment her entire body tensed. But then a sublime silence fell upon her mind, and she felt her heart calm down, and a lighthearted, attentive calmness took hold of her. She felt strong and beautiful and free. Smiling, she looked at him, rose from her chair and sat down on his lap. She wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him.

"Thank you, Your Majesty," she said. "We can now ride to the Fortress, if you like."

2

"Give me your hand, Madam."

She gave her hand to Ganondorf and left the other on Druja's reins, as he led her through the burning barrier and up the embankment. Then he let go of her hand, and she knew that she should ride ahead. She let the mare pass through the opening in the rock wall that surrounded the valley of the Temple. As they passed, she saw the blue line that began to glow as Ganondorf approached it.

Ganondorf had told her that she always had to keep her horse on the line. The path twisted like a huge snake through the dull darkness of the Wasteland, and Ranalla was grateful for Ganondorf's magic that gave her the strength to concentrate and give Druja the right signals with her body.

From time to time, Ganondorf gave her a soft instruction from behind, which she immediately followed. She noticed that she enjoyed sitting on the horse and steering it, feeling how she could communicate with it in an intimate, subtle way. How would it feel to ride like the wind through the desert, or across the Field of Hyrule... How would it be to feel safe, and to steer the horse without having to think about it? Or to do all the things with her magic that Ganondorf could do so effortlessly as if it were a part of his being?

It _is_ a part of his being, she thought. It has always been a part of his being, and to use it is as easy as breathing for him. A smile came into her face and she thought of him with admiration and pride.

"Do not forget the reins, Madam," she heard him calling softly, and her thoughts came back to Druja.

Without an incident they made it out of the quicksand, and soon Ranalla heard the call of the guard on the watchtower, and the gate to the Fortress was raised. As they entered the Fortress, Letria came to them and helped Ranalla descend.

 _"Granij rinnan trellis, strani Ranalla,"_ she said to Ranalla as she helped her descend.

 _"Lissu va,"_ replied Ranalla.

"You did well," Letria said, then pressed Ranalla's shoulder with friendliness. "How long have you practiced?"

"All morning," Ranalla replied. "But how do you know..."

"Ah, Sister Ranalla," Letria said, laughing. "Sirla is a little impulsive, but she is not stupid."

Ranalla put her hands over her face with shame, but she felt Ganondorf's arm around her shoulders and dropped her hands.

"But," Letria continued, "you have the best riding instructor in the world. You'll see, soon you can ride as well as a Gerudo Sister."

"We need a pair of riding boots," said Ganondorf to Letria.

"Oh, we'll find some," she said.

Letria took Ranalla to the Fortress and led her into a room with large shelves on the walls, where various clothes and boots of all sizes were kept. Ranalla tried on a few pairs and finally found one that fit her. Letria put the boots that Ranalla had borrowed from Ganondorf's guards into a bag, and gave it to her. Ranalla went out to the gate and tied the bag to the saddle of her horse, then turned around to look for Ganondorf. She did not find him, and suspected that he wanted to do something else.

As she thought about what to do, soft music came to her, and she recognized the velvety sound of an ocarina. The image of that other ocarina flashed through her mind, that which she had given to Impa. As the First of the Sheikah, Ranalla had kept the ancient artifact, and the notes of the magical songs were contained in her heritage, but she had never learned to play the ocarina as an instrument.

The gentle tones were playing a melody that was sad, but still promised a hint of hope, and Ranalla looked around, searching for its source. Her gaze found a solitary figure sitting on the ground at a distance, leaning against the rock wall, near a torch. There the music was coming from, and Ranalla went curiously in that direction. When she came closer, she realized, with a surprised gasp, that it was Sirla!

Ranalla stopped, uncertain, and watched her for a while. The light of the torch illuminated Sirla's face, who was sitting with her eyes closed. For the first time, Ranalla could look at her features undisturbed, and she noticed how beautiful Sirla was. She could not explain why Ganondorf had left this woman for her.

A queer feeling seized her, a mix of admiration with a touch of envy and jealousy. She felt the need to talk to Sirla, for she hoped to relieve the disturbing feeling that was gnawing at her soul.

Slowly, she stepped closer and sat carefully beside Sirla on the sandy ground. Sirla continued to play, and her fingers moved calmly over the holes in the clay flute that was shaped like a bird's body. Ranalla listened to the beautiful melody with a beating heart.

When Sirla finished her song, she opened her eyes and looked at Ranalla. With astonishment and a touch of horror, she stared at Ranalla for a long moment before she turned her gaze and shook her head.

"Sheikah!" she said harshly. "What do you want here?"

"To thank you for the horse," said Ranalla soberly.

"Hmph..." Sirla snorted softly. "For a woman who cannot ride, you are bold to just sit here."

Ranalla almost smiled because Sirla's words sounded like a praise, despite her gloomy tone. Ganondorf's magic in her body flashed up like daring lightning, making her fearless and audacious.

"May I see your ocarina?" she asked.

Sirla took the string that held the ocarina from her neck and gave it to Ranalla. "Be careful with it," she said harshly.

Ranalla looked at the ocarina. It had a smooth surface that appeared yellow in the light of the torch.

"May I try?" Ranalla asked.

Sirla nodded, without looking at her.

"On the lower side there are two holes for the thumbs, and on the upper side you cover all the holes with your fingers. This way you blow the lowest tone. First you raise the little finger of the right hand, then the next tone comes, and so on. You'll find out. When you blow, say 'doo' with a gentle 'd' without a voice."

Ranalla put the string of the ocarina around her neck. Then she put her fingers on the holes and wanted to blow in. Sirla gave her a look from the side.

"Hold the fingers straight, not crooked," she said before Ranalla could begin. "And you need to leave the hole of the left little finger covered, that's for the higher notes." Ranalla nodded. "And not so tense, or else the ocarina falls out of your hands." Ranalla nodded again and tried to follow the instructions. Then she blew in and said "doo" without a voice. A gentle, deep tone sounded, which miraculously calmed her beating heart, and from the corner of her eye she noticed Sirla nodding slightly. Ranalla raised her right little finger from the hole and said "doo" again. The next tone of the scale sounded. Encouraged by the clear, pure tones that she had managed, she raised the right ring finger and blew the next note. When she reached the end of the scale, she looked with the ocarina still at her lips at Sirla, who was staring straight ahead.

"And now backwards," Sirla said. Ranalla covered all the holes one by one, until she reached the deepest note.

"That was good," said Sirla, and Ranalla smiled. "But you do not need to flatter yourself because of that, Sheikah," she added. "And don't think that we are friends now!" She held her hand to Ranalla and wanted to have the ocarina back.

"May I try again?" Ranalla asked.

Sirla withdrew her hand, and Ranalla blew up and down the entire scale again. Then she took the string from her neck and gave the ocarina back to Sirla.

"What was that song that you played?" she asked, when Sirla had put the string back around her neck.

Sirla turned her face to her and stared at her angrily.

"All right, I'll leave, never mind," Ranalla said, starting to rise. But Sirla grabbed her arm with a firm grip and held her back. Ranalla raised her eyebrows and sat down again.

"It is _The Longing of the Ren-Bird,_ and it tells of a Ren-Bird, who is the only one of its kind and is seeking a mate."

Ranalla had to swallow. She remembered the words Sirla had said to her in the exercise field after she had picked the horse for Ranalla: _You are his Ren-Bird._

"Can you sing it?" she asked.

But Sirla shook her head. "I cannot sing," she said.

"Then... tell me the words," asked Ranalla.

"You know this is impertinent, Sheikah," Sirla said, but Ranalla had the impression that the anger had faded from her voice as she continued:

..

 _I fly alone in the sun of the morning,_

 _I fly alone in the light of the moon,_

 _I hope I'll find her, the one that I long for,_

 _With wings full of light in the sun of the noon._

 _.._

 _I fly, I fly so high in the sky,_

 _I fly, I fly, I fly!_

 _And when I will find her, my heart will have peace,_

 _And she'll be with me in the sky._

..

Sirla was silent and Ranalla heard the simple words echoing in her mind.

"How do you know that the one who says the words is a Ren-Bird?" she asked.

At that moment she heard steps in the sand. She turned her head and saw Ganondorf approaching them.

 _"Granij rinnan trellis, Sirla,"_ he said kindly.

Sirla said nothing, but she rose and went away with her ocarina. Ganondorf bent down to Ranalla, took her hand and pulled her to her feet. As usual, he sent his magic to her and waited for hers.

"The verses of the song are a part of a long poem about the Ren-Bird, Madam," he said. "The legend tells that the Goddess of Sand created the Ren-Bird and fell in love with him. She wanted him to be her lover, but the bird could only love a being of his own kind. The Goddess turned him away, and he remained alone and forever sought after a partner whom he could love."

"This is a sad story," said Ranalla.

"That's true, Madam," said Ganondorf. "But luckily, there is more than one Ren-Bird in our world. They are very rare, and the feathers of their wings can reflect the light like a mirror. One can sometimes find some of their feathers in the desert."

"Sirla cannot sing," said Ranalla.

"No, Madam, she cannot," Ganondorf confirmed. "But she can play the ocarina wonderfully."

"But _I_ can sing," said Ranalla. "Can you teach me the song, Your Majesty?"

3

That evening they had come without the guards. Sardun and Druja had been taken care of by the Sisters, and both horses were waiting for them at the gate. Ganondorf wanted to help Ranalla to mount her horse, but she pushed his hand aside because she wanted to do it alone. The short bit of playing with Sirla's ocarina, and Ganondorf's magic in her body, had given her a self-confidence she had never experienced before, and under his watchful eyes she reached across Druja's back and pressed her hand onto the other side of the saddle. Then she put a foot into the stirrup and swung herself up. Gently, she sat down on the saddle and took Druja's reins.

"Well done, Madam!" she heard Ganondorf's surprised praise, then he went to his horse. The guards on the tower had already opened the gate, and with a flash of exuberance, Ranalla straightened the muscles in her thighs, as Ganondorf had shown her. Druja responded immediately and ran through the gate out into the desert. Ranalla gasped as the rush of speed seized her, but then she heard Sardun's hooves behind her. Ganondorf came to her side and had his horse run in a narrow curve, forcing Druja to stop. He came around to Druja's other side and grabbed Ranalla's shoulder, but Ranalla growled angrily and wrenched from his hand.

"I can do this!" she hissed.

"No, Madam," he said calmly, taking her arm. "You have just begun, and if I do not initiate the mark, you will not find the way."

"The moon is shining!" Said Ranalla. "I know exactly where it is safe."

But he shook his head and held her tight. She felt his magic twitch inside her, and she wanted to break free from his grip, but quickly he let go of Sardun's bridle, turned her face to himself with his other hand, and kissed her. When she felt his lips, her resistance simply crumbled, and greedily she clutched his arm, whose hand was holding her face to his as she met his tongue.

"Do you want to go home?" he asked as he pulled away from her. "We cannot ride side by side, and I want you to be in front of me."

With the kiss he had aroused her longing, and she could not wait to feel him. Her body recalled how he had made love to her at the water basin, after he had given her his magic.

She wanted to experience that again! She wanted once more to feel him enter, hard and powerful, into her, and his magic in her body to increase her sensations a thousandfold.

Slowly, she nodded and closed her eyes in anticipation of feeling his body on hers, and again she felt his demanding lips, which made her shudder.

"Come, Madam," he whispered at her ear, gently biting her skin. "I want to make love to you. Go ahead."

He straightened and turned Sardun, then waited until Ranalla had instructed her horse to go ahead at a walking pace. Ranalla heard the slow steps of Sardun's hooves, and when she reached the edge of the quicksand field, she saw the blue line glow. She had to remember not to push Druja too hard, because the mare did not know the mark as well as Sardun.

After they had emerged from the Wasteland and had crossed the elevated part of the valley, Ranalla stopped at the embankment to take Ganondorf's hand. When they had reached the Temple, she would have liked to go up to the pavilion with Ganondorf at once, but the guards were nowhere to be seen, and they had to take care of the horses themselves. Trembling with excitement, Ranalla followed Ganondorf and led Druja into the stable, took off her saddle and bridle, and gave her food and drink.

His magic was throbbing inside her, and she dragged impatiently at his hand when they were finally finished and were running up over the stairways of the Temple to the double doors. This time they both went through the doors and ran to the barrier. After they had passed, Ganondorf took her along another path, which led directly to the back of the forest, to the clearing with the pavilion. The moon illuminated the path, and Ganondorf ignited only the single light ball in the corner of the grassy area. Feverishly, Ranalla tore his vest from his shoulders and opened his trousers with trembling fingers, for she could not concentrate on her magic. He did it himself and also removed her clothes, and in a stormy wave, she sent her intensified magic to him and saw him gasp as it touched his. Whimpering, she returned his kiss as he pushed her onto the bed and lowered her backwards. He pulled away from her and lifted one of her legs onto the bed, and then she screamed as she felt his lips kissing her core, and his tongue lost itself there, and put her body in raging flames.

 _"Riit ... ri-su ruad ..."_ she gasped. _"Malriju va ban ri ... riit..."_

She felt his hands at her waist, pushing her farther on the bed, and he took her hands and intertwined his fingers with hers. He tied her body on the bed with his hands – and then he was inside her, and she screamed again with desire, and wrapped her legs around him, until her body stiffened and her scream fell silent. He sank down to her and stroked her hair and kissed her shoulders and her breasts and her forehead. Overwhelmed by the powerful sensation, she lay motionless under his kisses, while his magic was boiling inside her and consuming her.

"What... are... you... doing... to... me..." she breathed. "Your magic... it eats me up..."

"No, Madam," she heard his smiling voice.

So much love was in it, so much tenderness, so much pride.

"It is making love to you, from inside."

 _I will love you, Madam, with everything I have..._

His words, which he had said to her outside the Temple at the beginning, echoed in her ears as he lay down beside her, covered her, and stroked her face.

"I will call my magic back now, so you can sleep," he said over her lips. "Kiss me, Madam, and let it go."

She closed her eyes, opened her lips and met his tongue with hers. Then she opened the embrace of her magic and released the wild, impetuous fire from her body. In her last moments of consciousness, she felt in a blur how he gently parted from her lips, and then she was asleep.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

 _Granij rinnan trellis, strani Ranalla._ \- Greet the face of the moon, Sister Ranalla.  
Lissu va. - You too.  
 _Riit... ri-su ruad..._ \- Please... Your Majesty... _  
_ _Malriju va ban ri... riit..._ \- I want you inside me... please... _  
_


	13. Chapter 13

A/N: Here is a new chapter for you :-)  
I would like to thank all readers who took the time to read up to here and are following my story. I feel really encouraged to continue and hope you will also enjoy the remaining chapters.

 **Chapter 13**

1

One week after she had ridden Druja for the first time, Ranalla had already made great progress, and under Ganondorf's supervision, she had ridden the way to the Fortress and back almost every day. Then one day he came with a bag and filled it with sand outside. From the closet in his room, he took a bow and showed Ranalla how to string it. With some simple experiments he found out Ranalla's dominant eye, which was her right, then he gave her a quiver with arrows. The bow was a bit too strong for her, and she had trouble bending it, so he set up a program to build her muscles.

The middle of the year was approaching, and Ganondorf woke Ranalla on the first light of the morning, gently kissing her lips. Since she had started sleeping with him in the pavilion, he had made love to her every morning, after arousing her sleepy body with his magic and the demanding touch of his strong hands. Every morning after breakfast, he immediately began training her in riding, archery, and sword-fighting, and challenged her strength until the sun was at zenith and her stomach was growling with hunger. After lunch, he gave her a little break, but she usually spent it with him in the forest on the roof of the Temple, where he made love to her in the shade of the trees, and then pulled her back down into the sand, where he put the bow into her hand again.

He knew no mercy.

He wanted to make the most of the long days of summer, and more than once Ranalla was so exhausted in the evening that he had to give her his magic so they could make love. Sometimes she was so tired that she fell asleep in the evening during dinner, and awoke twitching when she felt Ganondorf's warm hand on her cheek.

They were sitting at dinner after a long day, and Ranalla carefully placed her bowl on the table as she felt her eyes close. In a blur, she felt her head sinking to her chest, and then the next thing she felt was Ganondorf's hand, that was gently caressing her hair.

"Madam..." she heard his soft voice beside her.

She opened her eyes and her gaze fell on the window, where she saw the evening sun shining on the rock wall that surrounded the valley. She straightened with a sigh, and a soft hope mixed with her disappointment.

It was not dark yet... Perhaps he wanted to continue, and then he would give her his magic...

"I'm sorry, Your Majesty," she breathed, turning her head toward him. He smiled and she looked longingly at his lips. His hand sank to her neck and pulled her toward him, and she rose and sat down on his lap, facing him.

"Are you tired?" he asked, when she wanted to kiss him.

She nodded. "Yes, Your Majesty. Do you have any plans?"

"Yes, Madam," he breathed and kissed her. "But if you want, I can..."

"Yes, please," she interrupted.

"...make love to you," he continued, and she laughed. "Do you want me to give you some of my magic?"

She nodded again.

"What do you want to do, Your Majesty?" she asked.

"Today is the Day of the Sun, Madam, the longest day of the year. With the Gerudo, it is the most important feast of the year, and there will be a great celebration in the Fortress. It starts right after sunset and as the King it is my duty to attend the feast. The sun will sink in about two hours, enough time for..."

But she closed his lips and he was silent.

As they entered the pavilion, he pulled her to him and took her face in his hands. Eagerly she received his magic from his tongue, when his lips came to hers, and the fine pain of the union twitched through her body. Ganondorf's closeness made her shudder, and full of desire, she lifted her hands to remove his vest from his shoulders. He took his hands from her face to help her, then she felt him raise her into his arms without interrupting the kiss. He put her on the bed, then she felt his skin, for her clothes had disappeared. He took his lips from hers and looked into her eyes, and the part of his magic that he had given her roared like a wild storm through her body. The other part of his magic came to her and enveloped her, and she closed her eyes as she felt her core widen in anticipation for him.

"Come, Your Majesty," she said, trembling, for she was impatient. His magic inside her was racing with desire, and she heard his low moans at her ear as she received him. Like that day when he had healed her in the water basin, she felt the waves of pleasure coming to her in a mysterious, marvelous way from him, with every thrust. His sensations aroused other sensations inside her, that connected with the waves, were seized and carried along by them, and his climax was a radiant beacon that flowed through her body and poured into her own fulfillment like a wild stream. His strong arms pressed her against himself with infinite tenderness, and tears came into Ranalla's eyes when her magic went to his and touched it. His magic inside her augmented all her feelings and perceptions, and for the first time she felt a touch of regret as she remembered that she would have to part with it again.

2

The sun had already sunk behind the fog as they stepped out of the Wasteland and crossed the quicksand field on the safe path that Ganondorf's presence produced. Besides the guards, Nabooru had come with them this time, looking forward to seeing her daughter. She had told Ranalla that her daughter was living in the community of the Fortress since she had outgrown the infant age, so that she could grow up together with the other children.

The gate to the Fortress was raised, and they rode into the courtyard where Letria was awaiting them.

 _"Granij rinnan lastis, strani Ranalla,"_ she said with a friendly smile when Ranalla had descended from her horse. On her head, Letria was wearing a narrow, golden circlet with small, radiant peaks that looked like a delicate aura around her head. She greeted Ganondorf, Nabooru, and the guards, and Ranalla saw other, similar circlets in her hand, which she gave to the guards and to Nabooru. One remained, which seemed to be heavier and more richly decorated than the others, and she gave it to Ganondorf.

"What is that?" Ranalla asked him as he put it on his head and fastened it with a hidden mechanism.

"It is the traditional headdress of the Kings of the Gerudo," Letria answered in his place. "It is worn at great celebrations and official events, and today is the Day of the Sun."

As Ranalla looked around, she saw that many of the other Sisters, who were busy with the last preparations for the feast in the courtyard, were also wearing circlets. Her gaze came back to Letria, who seemed to have guessed her question, for she said:

"For the King, the circlet is a sign of his function, Sister Ranalla. For the Sisters, it is a sign of their rank. Each Sister must earn her circlet, either by virtue of her fighting skills, or by virtue of the special services that she provides to the community."

"Thank you, Sister Letria," said Ranalla. "Can I help somewhere?"

Letria gave her a bright smile again.

"Oh, it's nice that you ask, Sister Ranalla," she said. "Some children will perform the Dance of the Sun and still need help with their costumes. I was with them when the guards informed me of your arrival. Do you want to come along?"

Ranalla looked briefly at Ganondorf and he nodded. Letria took her hand and pulled her across the courtyard to one of the entrances.

"How is the archery going?" she asked, as Ranalla stepped into the cool passage. Ranalla remembered that in this part of the Fortress was the classroom where the children had admired her white hair ten days before.

"I am just beginning," she replied to Letria's question. "I still need to train my muscles so I can bend the bow properly."

Letria giggled and shook her head.

"That rascal!" she said snorting. "He probably gave you the strongest bow he could find, just to have a reason to enforce that muscle training upon you." She touched Ranalla's shoulder kindly. "Do not let him intimidate you, Sister Ranalla. He has trained half of the Sisters here, and he knows what he is doing."

Ranalla nodded and followed Letria through the corridor to the room, and she heard the laughter of the children as they came closer. When they entered the room through the angled entrance, a tangle of fidgeting and bouncing girls received her, who were struggling with long cloths, ribbons, and jingling jewelry. Letria clapped her hands and called to everybody around:

"Attention, sweeties, Sister Ranalla is here. She will help you with your costumes. Line up, then everyone will have her turn."

The girls obeyed, and Ranalla was delighted that Weri's daughter Lureli got the first place in the queue. Ranalla went to her knees and took the ribbons Lureli gave her.

"Where shall they go?" she asked.

"They must be fastened to my clasp, and here on my back, on my top, do you see?"

Lureli turned her back to her, but Ranalla did not understand. Seeking help, she looked around, but Letria had left.

"There's a loop at the hem," said the older girl behind Lureli, and Ranalla shuddered as she recognized Ganondorf's eyes in her face. Confused, she looked back at Lureli and looked for the loop at the back of her costume. Again and again her eyes went to the girl, who was waiting patiently. She tied the ribbons that Lureli had given her around the clasp that was holding the girl's hair in the traditional high ponytail, then she pulled the remaining ribbons through the loop at her top and tied them with a bow.

"Is it right?" she asked the other girl.

"Yes, _ri-su... strani...",_ the girl stammered uncertainly.

"You can call me Ranalla," she said kindly, and the girl lowered her gaze, embarrassed.

"Done," she said to Lureli, and the girl ran out. Now it was the next girl's turn, and Ranalla noticed nervously that her fingers were trembling as they tied the ribbons to the girl's hair clasp.

"Are you the Queen?" the girl asked when Ranalla was tying the ribbons on the loop at her back.

"I... do not know exactly," said Ranalla. "I think I must ask His Majesty."

"My mama says, if he has chosen you, then you are the Queen. And he chose you, for he took your hand, my mama saw it very well, and so did Niala, and Weri, and Laira."

The other girls in the line giggled, and Ranalla felt her face become warm.

"What's your mama's name?" she asked the girl when she was done.

"Her name is Blir," the girl replied proudly. "She held you tight when you were invisible and wanted to flee."

"I did not want to..." Ranalla wanted to protest, but the girls laughed, and Blir's daughter, who was also Ganondorf's daughter, ran out.

The next girl in the queue was even younger than Lureli, and Ranalla estimated her age to be three or four years. When the girl raised her gaze, Ranalla gasped, for she knew right away who her mother was.

"What's your name?" she asked kindly.

 _"Tirin,"_ answered the girl, and her high, childish voice sounded like a sweet bell in Ranalla's ears.

 _Morning,_ Ranalla translated in her mind.

"That is a beautiful name, Tirin," she said. "Your mama has come with us today. She looks forward to seeing you."

The girl beamed and handed her the ribbons. When Ranalla had fastened all of them, the girl gestured for her to get closer, then she put her soft arms around her neck and whispered in her ear:

"You are as beautiful as a fairy!"

Before Ranalla could react, the girl had parted from her and was running out through the doorway.

Twenty-one more girls were waiting in the line.

"Can I touch your hair?" one asked, and Ranalla recognized her, because she had already wanted to stroke her hair on her first visit. Ranalla nodded, and the girl's soft hand stroked gently over her hair.

"Where are you from?" another girl asked.

"From a high mountain that was once a volcano," Ranalla replied.

"Is there lava too, like in the Death Mountain?"

"No, not anymore. Once upon a time, the mountain was spitting fire, but the volcano has been extinct since long ago."

So it went on, and every girl seemed to enjoy the few minutes that Ranalla dedicated to her. At last all were satisfied, and she remained alone in the large room. There were still some ribbons and cloths scattered on the floor, and she began to pick them up and put them in a clean pile on a table. When she was almost finished, she heard Ganondorf's heavy steps coming through the angled entrance, followed by the quick steps of a child.

He came around the corner with the girl on his hand, who was Blir's and his daughter.

"Thank you, Lenori," he said to the girl, letting go of her hand. "Go to the others, the ceremony will begin shortly."

The girl retreated back into the corridor but peeked around the corner as Ganondorf stepped to Ranalla.

"Are you done, Madam?" Ganondorf asked her in Sheikah.

Ranalla quickly folded the last piece of colorful fabric and put it on the pile on the table. Ganondorf took her hand and kissed her, and from the corner of her eye Ranalla saw the girl cover her face with her hands and peer through her fingers.

"Lenori!" Ganondorf said slowly, with a gentle, blaming tone, and the girl backed away, frightened.

"You took her hand, _ri-su ruad,_ " she cried triumphantly from the safe distance. "I saw it! She is the Queen, I knew it!" Joyfully, she ran out.

Ganondorf shook his head, amused.

"Come, Madam," he said. "I do not want to miss the performance, especially now that all the girls out there are boasting that you helped them with their costumes."

3

Outside, the sun had sunk and it was already dark. Again, a large fire was burning in the courtyard. The Sisters were sitting in a wide circle on brightly colored blankets and carpets on the ground around the fire, and food and drinks were waiting in large baskets and vessels. The little girls, whom Ranalla had helped, were standing around the camp fire in a smaller circle, telling loudly to each other what Ranalla had said to them, while they were trying to outdo each other.

As Ranalla and Ganondorf approached the assembly, the Sisters stood up and bowed. Ranalla was curious about the ceremony, but her body tightened when she felt the eyes of all the Sisters on her face. At Ganondorf's hand, she went to the fire where the children were standing. Ganondorf stood in the circle of the children with his back to the fire.

While Ranalla was standing next to him, she let her gaze wander over the gathered Sisters. Almost all of them were wearing a sun-shaped circlet on their heads, as was Sirla, whom Ranalla saw in one of the rear rows of the assembly.

With shushing sounds, some of the Sisters demanded quiet, and Ganondorf took a deep breath.

"I open the Feast of the Sun to honor the Goddess who gave us our homeland. Some of our daughters will perform the Dance of the Sun, and they will be grateful for your attention. Afterwards, we want to eat and drink and celebrate until sunrise, with music, dance, and friendly talk."

Ganondorf bowed to the Sisters, and Ranalla did the same. He had held her hand all the time, and now he drew her gently to the edge of the circle formed by the Sisters. Some Sisters with musical instruments stepped forward and began to play a quick tune. After a special measure in the tune, the costumed children grabbed each other's hands and began their dance. They bounced and stamped on the spot, turned around in circles, then released their hands and turned around, the ribbons that Ranalla had tied flying with their twists and whirling in the wind. They ran toward the fire and stopped close to the flames, then turned and jumped back. They performed wild acrobatic interludes, and even Tirin, who was the smallest of them, hurled her agile body through the air in raging somersaults. With the last sounds of the melody, the girls lay on the ground around the fire like rays, spreading their arms and legs so that their bodies formed a large sun on the ground, with the fire in its center.

All the Sisters applauded, and Ranalla clapped enthusiastically as the girls rose slowly and bowed to the audience. Then they formed a line again and came to Ganondorf one by one. Ranalla watched as he knelt and hugged every single girl, whispering a few words of praise in each one's ear. First it was Lureli's turn again, and when Ganondorf broke from her, Lureli came to Ranalla and raised her arms to her. Amazed, Ranalla also sank to her knees and let herself be embraced by the cheerful girl.

"Did you like the dance?" Lureli asked.

"Very much," replied Ranalla. "You did well, Lureli."

"My mama says you can also do a somersault. But you did not make it through the barrier!"

"No, I did not," Ranalla said, shaking her head.

"That was good," continued Lureli, "because this way she could catch you!"

Ranalla laughed, and Lureli ran to her mother Weri, who took her in her arms. The next girls also wanted to be embraced by Ranalla, and with a strange feeling she waited for Blir's daughter Lenori to come to her. This time, Lenori was the last one in the line, and Ranalla watched Ganondorf furtively as he embraced his daughter. He did not know that she had recognized Lenori, and when Ranalla had embraced her and she ran to her mother, she felt the prick of jealousy in her heart as she imagined how Ganondorf had made love to that other woman. But before she could lose herself in those gloomy thoughts, Ganondorf rose, took her hand and pulled her to her feet.

"Come, Madam," he said. "Let's look for a place to sit down and see if we find something to eat. Today the guards are free and will not serve us."

The Sisters had settled on their blankets and carpets again, and Ranalla let her gaze wander searchingly over the crowd.

Suddenly she heard Weri's voice behind her.

"Will you sit down with us, Your Majesty?"

They both turned to see Weri, who pointed to a colorful carpet beside her, on which her sword was lying.

"Would you like to?" Ganondorf asked Ranalla. She nodded, pleased, and then she went to the carpet with Ganondorf. Weri took the sword and put it on her other side, and Ranalla wondered why Weri had taken her sword to the Feast of the Sun.

"Sit down, Madam," said Ganondorf, gently pressing her onto the carpet. "I'll get us something to eat."

"I've heard you're learning to shoot with the bow, Sheikah," Weri said, smiling, as Ganondorf had gone.

"Do all the Sisters in the Fortress know I'm learning to shoot with a bow?" Ranalla asked.

Weri nodded. "Of course! You are the King's wife, Sister Ranalla. Everything you do is interesting!" She winked cheerfully at Ranalla, and Ranalla laughed.

"How is your progress?" Weri asked.

"His Majesty has painted all my arrows in red, because otherwise we would not find them in the sand anymore," said Ranalla. "I am happy if one of the twenty arrows is in the sand bag at the end."

"You hide your light under a bushel, Madam," she suddenly heard Ganondorf's voice, who was coming back with two bowls. "She's better than you were after a week of practice, Weri," he said, placing the bowls in front of Ranalla on the carpet.

"I started archery when I was three," said Weri.

"And I was ten at that time, and was training you. I know what I'm talking about," Ganondorf said as he sat down on the carpet behind Ranalla. Ranalla looked amused from one to the other, then she giggled, shaking her head. She looked into the bowls that Ganondorf had brought, and found in each of them several cactus figs, various berries, some pieces of a melon, and two sand-lizard eggs. A few hours had passed since dinner and she was hungry again. She reckoned she would have to be up the whole night, and was grateful for Ganondorf's magic, which helped her stay awake and alert.

When they had eaten, Ganondorf brought the bowls away, then he came back to Ranalla and sat behind her on the carpet. Ranalla leaned her back against his chest and enjoyed the loving touch of his arms around her body.

The Sisters with the musical instruments came back from eating and laid their carpets on the edge of the circle, and then Ranalla listened to the sounds of the guitars while they played a wistful love song in the quiet rhythm of the tambourine:

.

 _Like the sun that caresses your body,_

 _Will my arms embrace you,_

 _Like the wind that strokes your skin,_

 _Will my kisses awaken your desire._

.

 _Like the rays of the delicate starlight_

 _Will my hands touch you,_

 _Like the wild longing for faraway places,_

 _Will I seduce you tonight._

 _._

 _Like the song of the desert nightingales_

 _Will my words bewitch you,_

 _And in the end you will fall for me,_

 _And then you will be mine..._

.

Like delicate vines, the beguiling words crept into Ranalla's consciousness and awakened her desire. Slowly, she closed her eyes and snuggled into Ganondorf's embrace. After their love in the evening in the pavilion, she had put on the red tunic and the trousers of fine Gerudo fabric, and now his fingers slid under her clothes and caressed her skin.

Frightened, she opened her eyes and met Weri's gaze, who looked at her smiling and proud. Ganondorf turned her face to him and kissed her tenderly. Her body stiffened as she suddenly had the impression that all the Sisters were staring at her.

 _"Sarili mi, mil Adna,"_ Ganondorf said softly in Sheikah. "Weri is bursting with pride because she caught you for me."

Then he kissed her again, and underneath the tunic, he stroked her breasts with demanding pressure. Despite her excitement, Ranalla had to laugh at his words, and the enchanted mood combined with Ganondorf's magic in her body made her audacious. With a giggle, she broke away from him and crept on her knees to Weri. As the last sounds of the guitars faded, Ranalla pulled the tall woman into a tight embrace and pressed a kiss on her forehead. Weri returned her embrace and whispered in her ear:

"You are the Ren-Bird for the King, Sheikah. And now take him and go away from here. You have better things to do than to sit about here."

Ranalla nodded and wanted to crawl back to Ganondorf, but at that moment the Sisters with the instruments began to play a new song. The tambourine started with a fast, lively rhythm, that drew Ranalla's attention. In amazement, she turned her gaze to the musicians, and then she saw five Sisters who rose out of the crowd and went to the free square in front of the fire. All of them had a scimitar in their hands, and Ranalla noticed that one of them was Sirla. The four other Sisters lined up facing each other, but Sirla went on and came to Ganondorf with a seductive smile.

 _"Trandij rimo-sen, ri-su ruad,"_ she said, laying the tip of her sword on his shoulder.

 _Dance with us, Your Majesty!_

Ranalla's heart pounded wildly, and she winced when she heard Weri's voice beside her.

 _"Jartij, ri-su ruad,"_ she said, and threw the scabbard with her scimitar to Ganondorf. He caught it, pulled it out of the scabbard, and rose. He smiled and winked at Ranalla, then went to the other Sisters. Sirla gave Ranalla a challenging look before she lined up with the other four Sisters, facing Ganondorf. The guitars with the tambourine were repeating the introduction, and when all the dancers were ready, they began to play the song. It started slowly, with the guitars playing only single chords. The dancers raised their swords to the beat of the music, took a step toward each other and withdrew again, then lunged out with their swords and slashed at their counterparts. The swords met with a loud, hissing sound, and in the darkness Ranalla saw sparks spreading.

The music continued, and between the lonely chords rose new sounds and faster notes. Ranalla's eyes followed the dancers, but in her heart the admiration and desire for Ganondorf fought with jealousy. Again and again the dancers approached each other, intertwined their arms with their swords, and separated themselves from each other again with skillful, artistic movements. They circled, slashed and parried, hopped and jumped, and their circlets were shining in the light of the fire. Ranalla saw the desire in Sirla's eyes, who were meeting Ganondorf's gaze again and again. Her lips were slightly open and she was smiling. She was beautiful, and she flung her fire-red hair through the air, as she turned her supple body to the rhythm of the music, swung her sword, and pulled it back again.

Ranalla noticed how the music grew faster, and the movements of the dancers became more and more daring. The swords were hissing through the air, stopping only a few inches before the opponents' bodies, and again and again they struck each other with a burst of sparks.

A proud, haughty expression lay on Sirla's face as she slammed violently at Ganondorf's sword and whirled around to meet it again. Ganondorf's eyes glittered in the light of the fire, and Sirla's back touched his bare chest as a special figure of the dance required him to take her hand and turn her to himself. Ranalla looked away as jealousy gained the upper hand in the fight that was raging inside her. But the feeling triumphed only for a moment, for a realization overwhelmed her.

Sadly, she looked again at Ganondorf and Sirla. A beautiful man and a beautiful woman, both of them were Gerudo, members of this wild people, and they fit together, they belonged here, much better than her, the foreigner, the intruder. How could she ever dare to be jealous? She had no right!

She looked around. Weri's eyes and the eyes of all the other Sisters were directed at the dancers who were moving to the ever-faster music. With a deep breath, Ranalla rose and slowly retreated into the darkness. This celebration would be the end of her adventure, because it was time for her to leave.


	14. Chapter 14

A/N: Well, here is chapter 14. I also wrote a grammar and dictionary of the Sheikah language and will hopefully be able to post them soon, so you can understand what people are saying when they are speaking Sheikah.  
Thanks again to all who are reading and following the story.

Enjoy!

 **Chapter 14**

1

Where could she go? There was a barrier in front of the bridge that she could not pass, even if she made herself invisible.

She was pregnant, she had conceived the Treasure, and she had to take him to safety. The last part of her mission had not yet been fulfilled, for she had not ensured that Ganondorf could not father any more children with the Sisters, but it did not seem to matter anymore. She would have to kill him to achieve that, and that she could not do. She had to leave him here, where he could give Sirla a daughter, and all the other Sisters who would still choose him. Like a knife, the pain cut into her soul as she thought of how Ganondorf had made love to Blir and to the other women. There had been nine, and Sirla would be the tenth. She imagined him kissing Sirla, holding her in his arms as he lay over her, looking into her eyes, entering sighing into her while she reared up with pleasure and satisfaction that she had finally got him...

Through the tears in her eyes Ranalla looked to the gate and noticed that the horses were no longer there. The Sisters had brought them to the stable of the Fortress and had taken care of them, but that was not bad, because without Druja it would be easier for her to escape unseen. She could not go to the Hyrule Field, but she could go to the desert. She would try to find Kaepora Gaebora. Somewhere there had to be a way out, even if it did not lead to Hyrule. Perhaps she could escape from the desert if she only went far enough.

She withdrew into the darkness and called her magic to make herself invisible. When she saw the glimmering of the invisibility shield before her, she ran quietly to the watchtower beside the gate. Carefully she climbed the ladder to the upper platform. The Sister who had watch service there was leaning over the railing, watching the dancers by the fire. Not even the slight creaking of the wooden planks that formed the floor of the platform attracted her attention. Ranalla snorted softly and gazed wistfully at Ganondorf, who was whirling around the fire with the other Sisters, while his feet were moving so quickly that the sand under his boots was hurled into the air. Then she turned her gaze away and walked with cautious steps toward the railing. Quietly, she climbed up and jumped down.

With her magic, she slowed her fall as she landed on the other side of the gate. With the gate being closed, no light came outside to Ranalla, but the soft light of the stars showed her the way to the quicksand field. As Ganondorf was not with her, the mark was not to be seen. But with her magic, Ranalla could jump, and she knew the quicksand field was about five horse lengths long. She went to her knees and called her magic to support her leap, then jumped over and landed safely on the sandy ground of the Haunted Wasteland.

She had never been alone in the desert. In front of her, a dark wall of mist marked the boundaries of the unknown world that she had to cross. The mist was covering a part of the sky, but Ranalla saw the seven bright stars of the Great Carriage above her, and found the North Star at the end of the draw bar of the Little Wagon. It would be her guiding star. She knew that the Temple lay in the west, so she could not go there. To the east was the Fortress, and there she did not want to return. North and south were left, and she decided to go north, because this way she could follow the star without having to turn around.

After a few steps, darkness had enveloped her. When she tried to check her direction, she saw only the velvety blackness of the fog that swallowed the stars. Ranalla closed her eyes and called her magic to expand her senses, but her field of perception was filled with suffocating darkness that pressed against her mind and stifled her strength. Frightened, she opened her eyes and realized that she had lost her last remaining orientation.

Tentatively, she walked a few steps backwards, but the stars did not reappear. She went farther back and thought that she should soon be out of the mist, but the stars remained hidden. She had the idea to jump with the help of her magic, but however high she jumped, she could not escape the dark mist. It was surrounding her like a tough, oily mass, in which she swam, but could not advance.

In her despair, she decided to wait for daylight in order to trace back her tracks in the sand. It was the middle of the summer, and the sun would rise early, perhaps in a few hours already. Maybe she could sleep a little...

She lay down on the sand in the darkness and closed her eyes. It was so quiet, and the mist seemed to swallow even the slightest noise. After a while, she felt the nightly coldness of the sand through the thin fabric of her tunic, and she shivered. She was suddenly astonished that she had left the Fortress just like that. Why had she done that?

Just because Ganondorf had danced with one of his Sisters?

Not with any of his Sisters.

He had danced with Sirla, who had _chosen_ him. Who was under the influence of the _Viss_ and would do anything to get him.

To take him away from Ranalla.

And now that Ranalla was gone, she could finally have him... She would challenge him to fight, kiss him and drag him into the room with the large bed. Or would he take her to the bed behind the waterfall? Or even to the pavilion?

The idea produced a violent pain in her chest, and she squirmed in the darkness. Angrily, she tried to expel the terrible picture before her inner eye and to lead her thoughts in another direction. How could she be so stupid? Why hadn't she got up and taught Sirla a lesson with her magic? A small blow perhaps, that made her slump in the sand in front of all the other Sisters? Why hadn't she prevented Ganondorf from going with her?

But no, he was the King. He made his own decisions. What could he have done? Reject Sirla? She had just wanted to dance with him!

And when the dance was over? Would she hold him tight so he would dance the next dance with her? And the next one, too?

Again, there was the pain, and now she recognized it. Her magic defied the pictures in her imagination, as it had done on the first day, when she had thought of leaving Ganondorf...

This time she had indeed gone away, but the pain had not come. Why not? Why did her magic resist the inner images of her jealousy, but not the idea of leaving him? Why had it let Ranalla go? The answer she was looking for seemed to be right in front of her, but as much as she tried, she could not grasp it.

For a long time, her thoughts flew back and forth in a feverish dialogue with herself, and she could not fall asleep. Why was it so difficult?

Her heart beat faster when she recognized the reason. Ganondorf's magic was still in her body. He had given her his magic to keep her awake, and his magic would do so and would not let her sleep until he called it back.

But how could he find her? How should she find her way back to the Fortress?

She straightened and shouted, as loud as she could:

"Help!"

But the fog swallowed her voice, and her call sounded merely like a stifled whisper in the dark.

"Your Majesty! Ganondorf!" she called again, but also this time she only heard the croaking whisper that dissolved in the dusty whirls.

No one would hear her. There would be no morning, and no one would find her. She would starve and die of thirst, and the Treasure in her body would die, and she would never see Ganondorf, the man she loved, again.

As she lay back on the sand, tears came again into her eyes.

 _Kaepora, where are you?_

She had failed.

2

The morning light came from all directions, and she could not see where the sun was. For a long time she had been lying on the ground, with her eyes closed but sleepless, while she changed her position again and again to escape the gnawing cold. At some point the light came through her eyelids, and when she opened her eyes, a thin layer of dust was on her face, and it made her blink. The wind blew the sand into her face, and the dust was everywhere on her body, even between her teeth, under her clothes, and in the riding-boots she was still wearing. She wiped the fine grains from her face and rose.

She saw the monotonous brightness above her, and beneath her feet was the fine, yellowish sand, that would perhaps glitter in the sun, but here it just lay dull and dead on the ground. Ranalla could not even see a shadow on it, and the wind had completely blown away her traces.

Slowly, she turned around herself. Everywhere she saw the same desolate image. But...

 _There._

In the dirty yellow of the fog she could see a darker area, a thin, vertical line, and at its upper end something was moving. Delighted, she ran there and found a thick wooden post with a narrow flag that was fluttering in the wind. When she reached it, she looked around again and saw another pole through the sandy air. With a beating heart, she ran in that direction. It was another flagpole, and from there she could recognize the next one.

They were signposts!

She continued to follow the winding path until her legs were aching. Finally, when Ranalla had the feeling that the sun was already in the middle of the unseen sky, from the flagpole to which she had come, she saw something different. It was no longer a single, narrow, dark line, but this time she recognized two strokes, and behind them in the distance was a wider, dark surface. Nothing was moving there, and as she passed between the two poles she had seen, she realized that it was a building, a small tower, that was half buried in the sand.

The tower was surrounded by several posts, and on the ground Ranalla found an opening in the wall leading to a hole in the bottom of the tower. There was only little light in the hole, but it was enough to recognize that there was a room underneath. She jumped down and slowed her fall with her magic. She landed in a room that contained only two torches and two empty clay pots, but on the wall she found a ladder and climbed up again. Disappointed, she went around the tower and found a staircase that twisted in a spiral to the top. She climbed up and came to a platform that formed the roof of the tower. On the edge of the platform she found a stone plate with an inscription in Gerudo, which read:

 _"The one who has the Lens of Truth will be guided by the Friendly Poe to the Spirit Temple."_

To the Spirit Temple...

Was that the Temple of the Sand Goddess, where Ganondorf lived? Did she want to go there?

She did not know. And what was the _Lens of Truth?_

She was standing, undecided, before the sign, wondering what to do. She had to make a decision, but the thoughts in her head were muddled. The weird, unreal light of the Wasteland confused her memories, and everything was so far away from her!

Ganondorf, the King of the Gerudo, Sirla, the Temple, Nabooru, the Fortress, the Treasure... In this world, where nothing had a shape, everything lost its meaning, and nothing seemed to be important to her anymore. She sat down on the stone floor of the platform and began to wait.

After a long time, she realized that it was getting dark again. The darkness, just like the light, came from all directions, and in her stomach there was a feeling that she could not classify. She stood up and walked around on the platform until she found the path that led down. Again she saw the flagpoles surrounding the little tower, and she knew there were some other posts somewhere out there. If she followed them, she might come somewhere else. But she no longer knew where she had come from. Slowly she rounded the tower and looked for the posts in the distance that had brought her there. In the dusk she saw a longish spot and went there. She found the post and saw the next one, but when she reached it, it was so dark that she could not look far enough in the fog to find another one. Desperately, she turned around and tried to follow her own trail in the sand, which the wind was already blowing away. She had to lean down to the ground to see the last remnants of her steps in the darkness, and on her hands and feet she crawled back to the little tower. She jumped down into the room that was now completely dark, and below, she called a magic flame and lit one of the torches.

She was so tired.

Without thinking, she lay down on the floor and closed her eyes. All sorts of images and ideas danced through her mind, met with memories and desires, and soon she no longer knew what she had really experienced, and what was only a dream. Sleep would not come to her, and vaguely she remembered a man who had kissed her. He had given her a special kiss, and he had done other things with her. But the kiss... the kiss was important, because he had made her feel good, strong, and invincible.

Again, a long time passed, and the cold of the stone floor sank into her bones. She no longer knew how to lie down, and everything hurt her. She straightened up and stood with her back to the burning torch to warm herself up, but she was trembling with cold. In the light of the torch she saw the ladder on the wall. Should she go up again? Maybe it was warmer there...

The metal bars were cold and hurt her hands as she slowly climbed up the rungs. She reached the opening and stepped onto the sand, but everything was dark. With great effort, she concentrated to call another magic flame, but she could not keep it burning, and it went out again and again. At some point, she gave up and rounded the tower by groping with her hands along the wall. She found the spiral ascent and reached the roof of the tower. Something was there, something important that could tell her why she was here, who she was, and how she could get there where she...

3

The first thing she noticed was the strange light. It was actually no light, it was a non-light that was shining in the World. She rose and looked down, and there she saw the woman lying on the ground. But when she looked around, a violent anxiety seized her, for she did not know the place where she was. And the fact that the woman was alone, worried her even more. The beautiful man was not with her, and that was unusual.

At the edge of this strange place she saw a plate with characters. She flew there and tried to read them, but she knew none of the signs. As she lifted her gaze, she saw a luminous figure hovering in the air. Or no... the figure itself was not shining, but the lantern that it held in its hand. It had a black face with glowing eyes that were staring at Ranalla. Then the figure raised its other hand and waved to her to come. Surprised, Ranalla followed the figure as it moved farther and farther away from the place where the woman was lying. Whenever she stayed behind, the black figure waved again, and Ranalla followed her. After some time, she crossed a sort of bright path in the dark, but the figure lured her further. A few more times she came across the bright path, and then the World suddenly opened, and she was outside. The figure flew farther, over a field glittering in the light of the stars, and here Ranalla also saw a part of the bright path. They approached a rock wall, and Ranalla noticed a large gate in it that closed a passageway. The figure flew over it and Ranalla followed it into a large courtyard surrounded by rocks. Several beautiful women with long, red hair were walking about, and delighted, Ranalla recognized where she was. She knew that the beautiful man had been here with the woman. She had to find him because it was not good that the woman was out there in the Other World alone.

The figure with the lantern lured her further, across the torch-lit courtyard, to a stone building that clung to the rock wall. And up there, on the roof of the highest level, beside a burning torch, was the beautiful man, looking into the distance.

Ranalla was startled when she saw him. He looked tired and exhausted, and his hair was tangled and not braided. A sad, tormented expression lay in his face, and his beautiful, golden eyes were reddened and shone like in a fever.

The dark figure with the lantern approached the torch beside the beautiful man and flew through its fire. Ranalla was frightened, for she feared that the figure would burst into flames, but no such thing happened. But at the instant the figure flew through the fire, it darkened for a moment. She saw how the beautiful man turned around to the torch and frowned in confusion. Once again the figure flew through the fire, and the man's eyes widened.

"Master Poe!" he breathed, and then he suddenly began to shine in the same white light like the path Ranalla had seen in the dark World.

"Where is she, Master Poe?" the man asked, and Ranalla saw fear in his eyes. "Please, tell me that she is alive!"

The figure nodded with its dark head, and the man breathed a sigh of relief.

"I will come with you, Master Poe," he cried, then he jumped down from the roof. The white glow around his body disappeared and the women in the courtyard came and surrounded him.

"Where are you going, Your Majesty?" they asked. "Are you going back to the Temple? Perhaps she has turned up there?"

"Be quiet!" the man shouted angrily. "Master Poe has found her; I have to go with him. Get Sardun and prepare my room! Leave the saddle!"

The women quickly went away in different directions, and the man ran into the first available entrance of the building. Ranalla waited restlessly, watching the dark figure with the lantern, who was slowly moving toward the gate. One of the beautiful women came with a big, dark horse with a red mane, and brought it to the gate. The man came out of the building and had a bag over his shoulder.

"Open the gate!" he shouted, as he ran to the horse. The gate was pulled up and the man mounted the horse. Again he began to shine, and the horse galloped through the gate and followed the figure. The man led the horse to the bright path that Ranalla had seen before, and then he crossed the field with the glittering sand. He entered the Dark World, and Ranalla tried to follow him and the figure back to the strange place where they had left the woman. While they were traveling in the Dark World, the light changed again, and the beautiful man did not shine so brightly anymore. Ranalla noticed that he was following the posts with the flags that the woman had found, and then, finally, they reached the tower. The man descended and bound his horse to one of the posts that surrounded the small building. He climbed down into an empty room, where a torch was burning, but when he did not find the woman, he put out the torch and climbed back up. He circled the building and climbed over the winding ramp, and there he found the woman. Quickly, he went to her and put his hand on her forehead.

 _"Dern Cedris, at-spartij,"_ he said, but Ranalla did not understand him. She saw how the man closed his eyes and swallowed, then bowed his head to her chest and listened. When he rose, he repeated:

 _"Dern Cedris, riit, at-spartij!"_

Why did the woman not wake up? Ranalla thought and tried to remember. The last time, on the bed in the pavilion, he had done something with the woman, something that had woken her up. And Ranalla had been there too, she had helped him... But she could not remember what to do. She flew to the face of the man, who had turned his gaze, and seemed to think tensely. Suddenly he turned his head back to the woman.

 _"Sheikah..."_ he murmured _. "Sheikah prelil siju!_ Madam Ranalla, wake up!"

Ranalla was startled. He had spoken to her. Now she remembered. It was important that the woman woke up, for she had not eaten and not drank for a long time. And Ranalla, she just had to... she just had to...

4

"Mmh..."

What was that voice?

She opened her eyes and saw his face. Had she slept? Why was the bed so hard? But she was so tired...

"Madam?" she heard his voice. "Can you hear me?"

She wanted to answer, but her lips stuck together. He raised her back and leaned it against his chest, then something came to her mouth.

"Drink, Madam," he said.

Cool water flowed into her body.

"Tired..." she heard her croaking voice say.

"Release it, Madam," he said softly. She felt his wonderful lips, and his magic broke from her and went back to him. An odd feeling of emptiness spread in her body as the world sank around her.

Only a little later she felt his warm hand on her forehead. She opened her eyes and saw him sitting beside her on the edge of the bed.

 _"Rianili Jutar, mil Adna,"_ he said, and she was so happy that he spoke to her in her own language.

 _"Rianili Jutar, mil Adnar,"_ she said. "What..."

He had such a way to kiss her and cut off her words, but she reveled in the feeling that his lips gave her, playing tenderly with hers until she raised her hands from under the covers and pulled his head closer to herself, so she could kiss him better. The familiar feeling of his tongue, which caressed hers, brought back the memory.

She had wanted to leave him, so that Sirla and the other Sisters could be happy, and she had gone to the desert. Strange things had happened to her there, and she did not remember how she had come here.

Ganondorf pulled away from her and stroked her face.

"What happened?" she asked him.

"I will tell you everything," he answered, "but first you must eat. You slept for almost two days, and before that, you were for two days in the Wasteland."

He reached behind his back and took a bowl that was filled with figs and other fruit. There were also some sand-lizard eggs and a dark, pear-shaped butter fruit. Ganondorf had a knife, and he cut the butter-fruit in two. He gave her the halves and a small spoon, and she began to spoon out the fresh, soft, greenish-yellow pulp. She ate some figs, and an orange, which Ganondorf peeled with the knife for her. Never had she enjoyed the sweetness of the figs so much, and the aromatic juice of the orange seemed to her like the Water of Life itself.

"When the sword dance ended, you were no longer with Weri," Ganondorf said as he peeled the eggs for her. "At first I thought you wanted to get some more food, but you did not come back, and I searched for you. When I did not find you, I asked the Sisters, but none of them had seen you, so I was worried. The Sisters interrupted the celebration and helped me to find you, Madam. I took half of them to the Temple and led them through the barrier, and we searched the Temple from top to bottom, though I was sure that you could not have walked alone through the barrier. The other Sisters searched the Fortress and the Gerudo Valley, then I sent them to the Field, and we also were in the open desert beyond the Wasteland. In the evening we were still missing any trace of you, so I checked the barrier at the bridge again. It was intact, and I knew you could not have taken that path."

He paused, stroking lovingly over Ranalla's hair.

"I even searched the quicksand field, Madam, as far as I could. I could not reach the bottom of the basin, but I refused to believe you could have sunk there. In the end, the only place we had not searched was the Wasteland. I therefore decided to go there at daylight and search for you alone, for I did not want to put the Sisters in danger."

"Danger?" Ranalla asked.

"Yes, Madam. People lose their orientation in the mist of the Wasteland, and then they wander around until they collapse from exhaustion and thirst. But by then, madness has long taken possession of their minds. They lose their memories and forget who they are, and their minds are plagued by delusions and insane dreams."

Ranalla remembered the strange, indifferent state of mind that had taken hold of her as she wandered about in the desert.

"How come you did not got lost, Your Majesty?" she asked, frowning.

"Master Poe helped me, Madam. He came to me in the evening, before I could leave, and showed me the way to you. I found you unconscious on his tower in the Wasteland."

"Master Poe? Who is that?"

"A friendly spirit who lives in the Wasteland. He is invisible, but you can see him if you are also invisible, or if you have a Lens of Truth. They are magic lenses that display invisible things."

"But how did I come here, Your Majesty?"

"Sardun carried you, Madam, and I held you tight while you were sleeping. You were completely exhausted, for my magic kept you awake for two days. Master Poe's Tower is closer to the Fortress than to the Temple, and I just had to follow the flags to find the way back."

"The flags?" Ranalla said stunned. "I followed them too, Your Majesty. Do you mean I could have just followed them in the other direction to find the way back?"

Now Ganondorf looked at her, puzzled.

"That's right, Madam. You were lucky that you did not wander too far in the darkness. If you had left the flags behind and had gone farther, then we perhaps would not have found you in time.

Ranalla had eaten up and Ganondorf put the bowl aside.

"Thank you, Your Majesty," she said. "I do not know what would have happened if Master Poe had not called you."

"You would have died from thirst, Madam," he said. "That was my greatest concern, because the bottles in the Fortress were all complete, so I knew you had not taken any water with you."

"Why did I not... lose my mind, Your Majesty?"

Ganondorf thought for a while.

"I do not know, Madam," he said. "When I found you, you were unconscious, but I woke you up, and, in spite of your fatigue, you were in your right mind and could follow my instructions. You returned my magic and drank water from the bottle. I guess my magic helped you. It did not let you sleep, and probably prevented your mind from moving too far away from reality."

At those words, Ranalla suddenly remembered the cold night in the desert, when her mind had struggled desperately with the question of why her magic had not prevented her from leaving Ganondorf. Now she saw the answer. It had been because, in fact, she had never really left him. His magic had been in her body all the time. It had gone with her and had helped her survive so that he could find her!

A warm feeling of gratitude flowed through her body. She looked at him as he sat there on her bed, taking care that she ate, and her heart melted with love and emotion. Ashamed, she lowered her gaze, but he took her face in his hands with a deep breath, forcing her to look at him.

"Madam, please promise me that you will never go to the Wasteland alone again," he said, with a serious expression.

She nodded, and he kissed her.

"If you still end up there somehow," he said, "look for the flagpoles, and follow them to the tower of Master Poe, then climb to the top and make yourself invisible. He will show you the way out."

She nodded again. He was so affectionate to her, and he had not even asked. Tears came into her eyes and she felt a touch of horror as she imagined what might have happened.

"I did not want to flee," she said softly, looking into his eyes.

"I know, Madam," he said, pressing her to himself.

"I just wanted everyone to be happy. Sirla, she..."

He put a finger on her lips.

"Forgive me, Madam," he begged. "I should have told you..."

But she pushed his finger away.

"I want to learn it, Your Majesty," she said.

"What, Madam?"

"Well... the sword dance. So you can dance with me next time."


	15. Chapter 15

A/N: So here is Chapter 15. It took me a while because it is so long. Besides, I was not happy with some parts of it, so I had to change it.

In this chapter there is a poem. In the German original it has a proper rhythm and a rhyme, like an epic ballad. It is hard to translate such a text and keep the rhythm and the rhyme, so I left that task for another time. And there's the rhyme, when you don't expect it... I hope you enjoy this chapter.

Please leave a comment if you like the story. Thanks in advance :-)

Eaglechild

 **Chapter 15**

1

The next day Ranalla returned with Ganondorf to the Temple, after they had both bathed in the ravine in the evening and then made love in the hidden niche behind the waterfall.

After the dangerous adventure in the desert, she had a guilty conscience. Since she had been with him, Ganondorf had never given her a reason for jealousy. He had danced the sword dance with Sirla, but he had told Ranalla before that as the King it was his duty to take part in the celebration. She also tried to convince herself that he could not have rejected Sirla. He had had to dance with her, and she, Ranalla, would have had to wait patiently for him, and then to leave the celebration in silence with him as Weri had advised her.

Instead, she had been ready to give up everything. The jealousy and the fear of losing Ganondorf had been nagging at her, and she had thought she would escape all that if she just left. She reproached herself for being so rash, and feared that Ganondorf might lose confidence in her.

However, after returning to the Temple, Ganondorf immediately resumed the training sessions with her. He challenged Ranalla's entire strength with the lessons in riding, sword fighting, archery, and many other things. Relieved, Ranalla plunged into her work and did all the exercises conscientiously and without complaints because she wanted him to be satisfied with her.

It was not easy to learn the complicated movements and figures of the sword dance without the music, but Nabooru came with two little rattles and tapped the rhythm, while Ranalla and Ganondorf swirled around each other with scimitars in their hands. Nabooru had told her in confidence that Sirla was the only Sister who mastered the sword dance with a male Gerudo, and secretly Ranalla's heart swelled with pride when she finally managed all the steps flawlessly.

Ganondorf began to train Ranalla's stamina, and she had to run the way through the Wasteland to the Fortress and back every day. Sometimes he ran with her, and sometimes he rode on Sardun and determined the tempo. Gradually, their runs grew longer, and after some time Ganondorf put weights on her arms and legs when she ran, in order to build her muscles. He also brought different weights from his workshops and had her train with them in the Temple. Ranalla learned to ride on Druja at a trot and at a light gallop, and she built up a faithful communication with her. Druja always reacted to the slightest tension of Ranalla's muscles, and Ranalla loved her and took care of her tenderly when the riding lessons were over.

Ranalla also learned the advanced use of her magic from Ganondorf. He taught her to build strong barriers, but also to do other sensible things with it. She learned to intensify her will with her magic and to force it onto another person, as he had done with her on the bridge. She also learned to send out the little whirls that could touch and caress, but could also create or remove pain.

As the blades of his two swords were enchanted, Ganondorf surrounded the edges with fine barriers during their exercises, so that Ranalla was not wounded. But he also showed her how she could heal the bruises, skin abrasions, and sprains she suffered, even during the lessons. And she slowly learned to keep her magic constantly with him when he was near her, embracing, enveloping, and caressing him with her magic as he had done with her from the beginning. When their magic met and joined, she felt invulnerable, strong, and beautiful, and Ranalla realized that she was longing for that feeling when Ganondorf was not near her.

Since Ganondorf had saved her from the twin sisters, they had not turned up again. Ranalla hoped that now that her complete magic was freed, the two old women had no more reason to lie in wait for her, and slowly her fear began to fade. Ganondorf showed her the door to the part of the Temple where the twins were living, and she had to promise that she would never enter that area without him. Apart from that, Ranalla was free to move around the entire Temple, and on the days when Ganondorf was in the Fortress and freed her from training, she explored more and more of the vast complex inside the rock.

In a huge room, she found another statue of the Goddess of the Sand. Like the outer statue, the Goddess was sitting cross-legged, but her face was missing. Instead, Ranalla saw a passage up there and wondered how to get there. The hands of the statue were about halfway between the floor and her face, and Ranalla had the idea of using them as a springboard to get up. From below, she could see two large chests on the hands, but when she jumped up with the help of her magic and opened the heavy chests, both were empty.

Under the chest on the left hand of the statue, Ranalla found the outline of an ancient, sacred symbol, one which she would never have expected there: the sign of the Triforce. She could not explain how it had come here, but she did not dare to ask Ganondorf about it. However, she could jump up from the hands, so she reached the hidden opening in the statue's head. With great astonishment, she discovered a new area of the Temple that she had never seen before. She found several rooms connected by doors, and in the last room there was a high platform with a large, round ornament painted on its surface. There were smaller platforms on the sides, and Ranalla guessed that they might have been used for mysterious rituals a long time ago, just like the other large and small rooms she had found so far.

The walls and the ceiling of the room were covered with inscriptions in Gerudo. When Ranalla tried to read them, she realized that they were stories from the legends of the Gerudo. They told about long past wars between gods and demons, and she also found a version of the legend about the god with the winged dragon that Ganondorf had told her in the beginning. Another story mentioned a mysterious magical creature that protected the Temple and its surroundings, waiting for the messenger of the Goddess in order to give him special abilities.

On her expeditions through the Temple, she sometimes encountered Ganondorf's four guards and Nabooru, who were doing their work. She helped them, chatted with them, learned where they lived, and was allowed to visit their rooms. Nabooru had many books in Hylian and lent them to Ranalla. Ranalla also read books from Ganondorf's library and was amazed at how many interesting books he had. Some had been signed by the authors themselves, and many came from various bookstores from Hyrule Castle Town.

Two months had passed since her first night with Ganondorf, and Ranalla felt the tiny being she had conceived with him growing and developing inside her. Her pregnancy would only be visible after the sixth month, but she felt how her body was changing and adapting to its new task.

Since Ranalla could remember, the women of her people had always continued doing the exact same activities during their entire pregnancy that they normally did. From some other members of the community, who had lived in Hyrule for some time, Ranalla knew that it was different with Hylian women. Their midwives often advised them, already during the first months of pregnancy, not to lift heavy weights and to refrain from physical exertion.

The only thing Sheikah women changed during pregnancy was the amount of food they took in. In order for their bodies to maintain their strength while dealing with the slowly growing weights inside them, they had to eat more. Ranalla soon also realized that she could not keep up from breakfast to lunch anymore, and asked Nabooru to bring her a snack outside during the lessons with Ganondorf. But she did not want to tell Ganondorf about her pregnancy, so with him she blamed her effort for her hunger.

He continued to exploit every bright moment of the day, waking Ranalla at the first light of dawn, and driving her mercilessly all day long to overcome her limitations. In the Fortress she had seen Sisters well advanced in pregnancy standing guard, and she guessed that Ganondorf would probably not spare her anyway, even if he knew she was pregnant. In the evening, he often had to carry her from the living room to the pavilion because she was too exhausted to walk. On the way, Ranalla mostly fell asleep in his arms, but he woke her with a tender kiss, giving her a part of his magic so that they could make love.

But one day during those weeks of hard, challenging training, Ranalla made a disturbing discovery. She realized that with the severe physical exertions to which she indulged during the day, she was no longer concerned merely with the fact that Ganondorf was satisfied with her progress. She was working so hard because she hoped that he would give her his magic in the evening, and every time he called it back, Ranalla had difficulty letting it go.

2

She awoke from a nagging feeling of hunger in her stomach. Through the trees she saw a reddish glow in the east, but the forest was silent at dawn. She turned her head and looked at Ganondorf beside her. His chest rose and fell slowly with his calm breath, and his eyes were closed and did not move. He lay in deep sleep, and Ranalla admired his beautiful face as she enjoyed the feeling of his warm hand on her body under the covers.

Once again, he had given her a part of his magic in the evening and had made love to her until she lay relaxed and happy in his arms. Then he had given her that special kiss, taking his magic from her, and Ranalla would have loved nothing better than to keep it. When his magic had left her, she immediately had fallen asleep thinking of the next night, when she would again feel the bliss of his love and the lovely pain that the union with his magic brought her.

Carefully, she peeled out of his embrace and smiled as she saw his disheveled hair on the pillow beneath him. Next to the bed lay her tunic with her trousers, and she dressed. She took the little basket from behind the bed and went into the forest. Ganondorf had shown her which of the shrubs and plants unknown to her had edible leaves, and she picked as much as she thought she could eat. Then she took some peaches and figs from the trees, and picked some berries from the shrubs of the hedge. With the full basket she went back to the pavilion, sat down on the bed, and began to eat. The sun had just risen and was glittering between the leaves of the trees, but when Ranalla had eaten everything in her basket, Ganondorf was still asleep. She knew that he took a break from time to time to give her some rest, and he never announced such days beforehand. So she decided to just assume that today was such a day.

She put the basket back behind the bed and went to the little garden house that Ganondorf had shown her. There he kept his clothes and necessary items, and Ranalla took his hairbrush out of a drawer. He had cleared a dresser for her in the house, where she could put her clothes, and from the Fortress he had brought her the necessary things for her daily use.

When she returned to the pavilion, Ganondorf had stood up and was putting on his trousers.

"Good morning, Madam," he said kindly, hugging her when she came to him. "What do you have there?"

She showed him the hairbrush. "I want to braid your hair today, Your Majesty. May I?"

He raised his eyebrows in astonishment. "You really want to do that, Madam?"

She nodded. For a long time she had wished to comb his long, soft hair, but when she woke up, he was usually already done.

"All right," he said, and sat down on the bed. Ranalla crawled onto the bed behind him and straightened on her knees. With her hands, she drew his hair to his back, then she went with firm but careful strokes through the light-red strands. She divided his hair in the middle and combed it until it fell full and smooth over his shoulders and his back. When all the knots were gone, she went down from the bed and stood in front of him. She took the front strands and braided them on either side so that the hair would not fall into his eyes. Ganondorf remained sitting patiently, and Ranalla noticed that he was enjoying her touch. When she finished with the front strands, she kissed him and said:

"Wait a moment, Your Majesty. I would like to try something else."

She sent her magic to him, and he closed his eyes and took a deep breath as he met her magic. Full of pride she saw him smiling, and she climbed back behind him. She took another strand and braided it into a thin plait, and it was so much fun for her that she braided three more strands.

"Now it is finished, Your Majesty," she said.

He felt with one hand behind his head what she had done, and laughed. Then he reached back with his arm around Ranalla's waist and brought her forward to him. She sat down on his lap, flinging her arms around his neck and kissing him. Then she looked proudly at his face, his soft lips, his golden eyes, and his sun-brown skin.

"You are a beautiful man, Your Majesty," she said.

"And you are a beautiful woman, Madam Ranalla," he said. "I am happy that I can love you."

At these words, the memory of their first night in the niche under the waterfall came to Ranalla's mind. He frowned as Ranalla paused in thought, looking at her questioningly.

"What is the matter, Madam? Is something not right?"

"I am fine, Your Majesty," she reassured him. "I only remembered something I have wanted to ask you for a long time."

"What is it, Madam?"

"Do you remember the night after my fight with Sirla? When we slept in the niche under the waterfall?"

He nodded.

"I asked you all those questions in the morning, and we spoke Gerudo, but you told me in Sheikah that you love me. Could you repeat that?"

 _"Andrys, Ranalla ill Sheikah,"_ he said, kissing her.

"Why did you say it this way?" She asked.

"I do not know," he said. "I just said it. Is something wrong with it?"

"It is all correct, Your Majesty. That's exactly what makes me wonder. It is the Sheikah's traditional confession of love. You said it correctly, although there is a particularity in this phrase, namely that the pronoun is not pronounced."

Ganondorf looked at her, frowning.

"I do not know how I knew, Madam. I just said it without thinking. I wanted to tell you, and the words were there. And I meant them, Madam. Then and today."

"How... how would you say it in Gerudo, Your Majesty? Or... wait, I want to try. _Va miriju."_

Ganondorf smiled. "In this case one says the pronoun _va_ after the verb, Madam."

 _"Miriju va, Ganondorf Dragmire at Gerudo,"_ said Ranalla.

 _"Ri lissu miriju va, Dern Cedris at Sheikah,"_ he replied.

3

At breakfast, Ranalla was still so hungry that she could eat a bowl of cereal and some fruit. She noticed that Ganondorf allowed himself a lot of time to eat, and she was a bit confused. When she had emptied her bowl, he was still eating calmly and without haste. Ranalla leaned back in her chair and looked at him suspiciously. Eventually, he placed his empty bowl back on the table and took another serving. Ranalla snorted, frustrated, and he laughed.

"Come on, ask me," he said as he cut a peach into his bowl.

"What are we going to do today, Your Majesty?" Ranalla asked, trying to make her voice sound calm despite her tension.

"Nothing," he said.

Oh, she needed a moment to assimilate that.

"You mean no riding, sword fighting, archery, magic training, no gardening and botany, no stamina training, and no muscle building?"

"Exactly," he said simply.

"But... what am I supposed to do?" Ranalla asked.

"Whatever you want, Madam," he said with a mischievous smile.

"And what will you do, Your Majesty?"

"Whatever you want, Madam," he replied with the same smile. "If you want, I will make love to you all day, as long as my strength permits."

She felt her face warm.

"Of course that would be my favorite task, Madam," he continued, winking to her. "But you can of course choose something else."

He was an insatiable rake!

Ranalla could not believe it. Her body was already so adapted to the constant strain on the limits of her strength that she almost feared she might be bored.

"I do not know..." she said hesitantly.

"Since you have been with me," said Ganondorf, "I have determined what you should do, Madam, and you have always obeyed and done everything I asked of you, without complaints. Tomorrow we will continue with the training, but today I want you to do what you always wanted to do."

Ranalla knew what she always wanted to do. There were several things.

"You told me in the beginning, Your Majesty, that you could teach me how to play the organ. I would like to learn, but not today. I would like you to teach me regularly, if we have time."

"I would love to do that," he said. "But what do you want to do today?"

"I would like to learn to sing the song of the Ren-Bird, in the key in which Sirla plays it on the ocarina. I would also like to learn to sing the second voice."

Ganondorf paused his eating and looked at her in amazement. Laughing, he shook his head. "You are a cunning little beast, Madam," he then said approvingly. "Be careful with her. You cannot trust her."

"Of all the Sisters in the Fortress, she is the only one whose word I would trust at any time, Your Majesty. She hates me, but she does it honestly and sincerely."

"All right," he said. "Do you have any more wishes?"

"Yes, Your Majesty," she said. "I would like to ride on the Great Field of Hyrule at a gallop. Then I would like to go swimming with you in the ravine. I want to build a barrier around the basin under the waterfall and heat the water. Then I want you to make love to me in the water. And for all those things I want..."

She broke off, for she was frightened by the wish she had almost expressed. Ganondorf finished his meal and placed his bowl on the table. He turned to her and gazed at her tenderly.

"What do you want, Madam?" he asked. "Tell me. I will do everything you want."

Ranalla summoned all her courage, and her heart pounded violently as she told him her greatest desire.

"For all these things, I want you to give me a part of your magic, Your Majesty. So far, you gave me your magic only when I was too exhausted to stay awake. I would like to know what it is like to have your magic when I am awake and rested. One whole day long."

4

Ganondorf looked at her for a long moment after she had expressed her wish. His face grew serious when he answered.

"I will fulfill all your wishes," he said, "on one condition. When I think that it is better for you to return my magic, you must allow it. I can take it back without your consent, but it is not pleasant for you. You must promise that you will let it go when I ask you."

"I promise, Your Majesty," she said.

He got up and took her hand. Gently, he pulled her to her feet and took her face in his hands. Ranalla was longing for the moment when she would feel his tongue with hers. She closed her eyes and opened her lips as he came closer. His lips touched her lightly at first, then their pressure grew, and a familiar shudder streamed through her body. At that moment she was ready to forget everything she had planned for the day, just to sink into that kiss forever.

A whirl came from his tongue, and his magic flooded her body with a wild energy that shot like a burning arrow through her limbs. By now, she already was proficient in absorbing his magic, and when she met it, she opened and let it flow into her. Ganondorf broke away from her and the fine, divine pain of the union made her scream. Since Ganondorf had given her his magic for the first time, she longed every day to experience this moment. When she had absorbed his magic, she felt the elation of invincibility and unbridled lust for life inside her, and she grabbed the cloth of his vest, pulled him to herself, and kissed him fiercely, full of desire.

As she pulled away from him, he looked at her attentively for a moment, then he took her hand and led her to the bookshelves. He stroked over the books with his free hand and finally found what he was looking for. On the back of the book, Ranalla read the title in Gerudo:

 _Ganonenis lissu dralganenis prellanen_

 _The legends of the gods and demons_

Ganondorf led her to the desk and gestured for her to sit down on the chair. Then he flipped through the book to a certain page and put it on the table before Ranalla. She read:

 _Revlan Ren-Daltis, at Tiristal Nerisdorf_

 _The creation of the bird Ren, by Tiristal Nerisdorf_

Beside the author's name were the years of his birth and death.

"The author has two names," said Ranalla. "Was he also a male Gerudo?"

Ganondorf nodded. "Yes, Madam. As you can see, he lived about a hundred years ago and was then, of course, the King."

"His name means... _Morning Star, Son of the Night?"_

"Yes, Madam. He wrote the legend of the Ren-Bird in verses. If you want, you can read the whole poem. The verses of the song are the last two verses of the poem. You can copy them or learn them by heart, then I will teach you the melody on the organ."

"I want to read the whole poem, Your Majesty," said Ranalla.

"Then I will bring the leftovers of the breakfast to the kitchen," he said. "Afterwards, I'll be waiting for you at the organ."

Ranalla began to read the long poem. It was a beautiful, sad story full of wonder and magic, and it mesmerized her. The Goddess of Sand created the Ren-Bird in the course of three days. She covered the feathers of its wings with melted sand that reflected the light like a mirror. She fell in love with the bird that was her own creation, and she wanted to have him alone. But since the Ren-Bird could only love a creature of his own kind, he did not answer the love of the Goddess, and forever wandered alone in the sky, seeking a mate. He flew to the sun and the moon because he hoped that he could see a being like himself better from above, when the light reflected on her wings.

When Ranalla had almost reached the end of the poem, she heard the sound of the organ. She took a piece of paper and copied the last two verses of the poem. Then she closed the book and left it on the table. With the paper in her hand she went out into the corridor and followed the sound to the room with the organ. She opened the door and sent her intensified magic to Ganondorf, who sighed softly as she reached him, while he continued to play.

Ranalla sat next to him on the bench in front of the organ. Ganondorf played the melody from the beginning for her.

"This is the melody, as Sirla plays it on the ocarina, Madam. If you want to sing the second voice, you need to stay a bit lower. Do you want to try? Can you sing the second voice by ear?"

Ranalla nodded. He played the melody again and sang the words. Her eyes widened as she heard him sing. His voice sounded soft and tender, and her magic trembled with joy and love for him. He noticed her surprise and, smiling, he invited her with a gesture of his hand to sing along. Once more, he sang the song, and she tried to figure out the second voice, muttering softly. The melody was not easy, but he helped her by playing the second voice on the organ, and after a few more runs they were able to sing the song together in harmony.

"And now with the ocarina, Madam," he said, then pulled one of the levers next to the keyboards and played the song. This time, the organ had a gentle sound that was very similar to an ocarina, and Ranalla sang the second voice. By now, she was able to sing the lyrics by heart, and when Ganondorf accompanied the melody with matching chords, she was enthusiastic. It was so much fun to play with him, and she felt sad that they had not started sooner. Ganondorf turned to her and pulled her into a tight embrace.

"You have a beautiful voice, Madam," he said. "When we are in the Fortress tonight, you should look for Rista and Laira. They are practicing with the guitars in the evenings, and I want them to hear you sing."

5

 _The creation of the bird Ren,_

 _by Tiristal Nerisdorf_

 _._

 _Sargani, the Goddess of the Eternal Desert_

 _Looked down on golden land_

 _And wished to shape a being_

 _From the sparkling sand of her dress._

 _._

 _On the first day she made a body_

 _That could glide on air, like a boat._

 _It was as tall and strong as a dragon,_

 _And its beak was bent, crossed, and red._

 _._

 _On the second day she created silver feathers,_

 _As bright as the glow of the sun,_

 _To protect the being's flying body,_

 _And Sargani liked what her eyes saw._

 _._

 _On the third day she took the sand_

 _And merged its grains with her fiery breath,_

 _And soon there were fine, shining fibers_

 _Of glass in the hand of the mighty Goddess._

 _._

 _Sargani gave to the wings of the being_

 _The fibers as a svelte, limber sheath._

 _The feathers now shone like a mirror,_

 _And threw back the light of the sun._

 _._

 _The Goddess chose for her bird_

 _The name Ren, for its feathers_

 _Radiated as bright as the glowing sun,_

 _And it was the most splendid far and wide._

 _._

 _But when she had finished her creation,_

 _Her mind was seized by greed,_

 _And soon her heart was full of desire_

 _For this beautiful, perfect creature._

 _._

 _"Come," said Sargani, "be my lover._

 _Then I will love only you alone,_

 _For you are the most beautiful being on Earth,_

 _And you shall be the mightiest of all."_

 _._

 _The bird looked with sad eyes_

 _At the Goddess of Sand who had made him,_

 _For in him, the deep longing to love_

 _A being who was like himself, had awoken._

 _._

 _He said, "O Goddess, I cannot love you,_

 _Although you are so beautiful and so powerful,_

 _Because I can only love the being at my side_

 _If it is a Ren-Bird._

 _._

 _Then she became angry, the mighty Goddess,_

 _And sent the shining bird away._

 _"If you will not love me, then be the desert_

 _For you and forever a lonely place!"_

 _._

 _Since then the bird has been wandering alone through the sky,_

 _And is looking for the being by day and by night,_

 _That is like himself, to finally love her,_

 _But Sargani has made only him alone._

 _._

 _He flies up into the windy heights_

 _And seeks in the field of the endless desert_

 _The luminous glow on the reflecting wings,_

 _And sings the eternal song of his longing:_

 _._

 _"I fly alone in the sun of the morning,_

 _I fly alone in the light of the moon,_

 _I hope I'll find her, the one that I long for,_

 _With wings full of light in the sun of the noon._

 _._

 _"I fly, I fly so high in the sky,_

 _I fly, I fly, I fly!_

 _And when I will find her, my heart will have peace,_

 _And she'll be with me in the sky."_

6

"Here we must descend, Madam."

Ranalla brought her horse to a stop, and descended. They were standing in front of the bridge over the ravine, and Ranalla knew that the barrier was in front of her. Ganondorf took her hand and led her through the barrier, and Ranalla felt as if she were walking through a wall of water as she held his hand going down the stairs of the bridge.

Down on the bridge, along with their long spears with curved blades, Blir and Niala were standing guard like on the evening when Ranalla had arrived. They bowed as Ganondorf walked down the stairs with Ranalla, and he greeted them with a slight nod. Ranalla remembered the evening of the Day of the Sun, when she had embraced Blir's daughter Lenori. Again she felt the prick of jealousy as she thought of how Ganondorf had made love to these other women.

But Ganondorf's voice brought her out of her gloomy thoughts.

"You can go over, Madam," she heard his voice. "I will lead the horses through the barrier."

Ranalla nodded and walked over the bridge. The disturbing images came back to her mind again, and angrily she tried to distract herself. The planks of the bridge creaked with her steps, and under her dark combat suit, her heart beat faster when she realized that she was on the other side of the barrier for the first time since her arrival more than four months ago.

If she wanted to flee now, it would be easy for her. In contrast to the desert, all roads were open to her from here. With Ganondorf's magic in her body, she was able to build a strong protective barrier around herself and make herself invisible for a long time. She could throw the guards to the ground or maybe jump into the river and swim with the rapid current to escape. When she had gone to the desert, he had known she did not want to flee. But what would he do if she still fled? Would he pursue her? Would he search for her again?

She had to know!

Ranalla stopped and looked at Ganondorf, who was carefully guiding her mare Druja over the steps to the bridge. He stood with his back to her, and he was not armed. As she looked at him, he suddenly turned his head and met her gaze, as if he had guessed her thoughts. She called her magic and saw the horror in his eyes, even before the flicker of the invisibility shield fell over her field of vision. She turned and ran with great strides across the creaking planks of the bridge. The guards at the other end of the bridge heard her steps and turned around. Confused, they looked at Ganondorf and stood in the way of Ranalla, but with her enhanced magic, she jumped over them in a high somersault. She landed on the other side of the Valley, rolled off and ran on. Behind her, she heard Ganondorf's wide whirl and dropped to the ground. His magic helped her jump even higher as a second whirl hurled the sand and small pebbles into the air beneath her. As she landed and rolled off the ground, she saw Ganondorf take Druja off the bridge and run back.

With great leaps, she ran to the passage in the rock that led to the Hyrule Field. She jumped over the stream, enjoying the power that Ganondorf's magic gave her. When she reached the Field, she stopped and looked around. Four months ago, when she had arrived here after her long, lonely voyage, it had been spring, and now it was high summer on the Field of Hyrule. The afternoon sun was shining warm from the blue sky on the gentle, grass-covered hills in front of her, which invited her to race. Ganondorf's magic stirred in her, and her muscles, strengthened by the hard training, wanted to move. But she wanted Ganondorf to see her, so she dissolved her shield, and the flicker before her eyes vanished. She jogged, jumped, somersaulted in the air, dropped to the ground and rolled off, rose with a jump from the ground and ran on. The intensified magic and the vast space of the Field of Hyrule created an ardent, wild feeling in her, and her body was vibrating with strength.

She ran farther and farther, but when she rose from the grass after a roll, she heard the sound of hooves approaching behind her. Frightened, she turned around and saw Ganondorf, who rode after her on his horse at a gallop. His expression was serious and she saw concern in his eyes as he drove Sardun to follow her. She stopped until he had come close to her.

"Please, Madam..."

He descended, but when he touched the ground, Ranalla made herself invisible again and ran off. She heard him growl in frustration, then she felt a wide magical whirl that hit her and made her visible. She ran on, but he ran after her and she knew that he was faster than she was. With a violent gesture of her hand, she threw a barrier behind her and heard Ganondorf dissolve it with his magic. As he did so, she built the invisibility shield and sidestepped. He stopped and hurled a wide whirl around himself, which hit Ranalla and threw her to the ground. She heard his steps as he ran toward her, and she wanted to get up. He was already there and threw himself at her, but she rolled quickly to the side and got up. He could see her now and she knew he would make her visible again and again if she made herself invisible. Gasping, she looked behind her and saw him jump up again. His magic made her magic strong, and she threw a dense barrier to him that enclosed him like a dome. In the distance she saw Sardun's red mane glowing in the sun, and ran on. As she looked back at Ganondorf, she saw that he was trying to dissolve her barrier. He would succeed, but he would need a few moments, enough time for Ranalla to reach his horse. Sardun was much faster than Druja, and he was also faster than Ganondorf. She reached the horse and jumped into the saddle on his back with the help of her magic. Sardun shuddered and whinnied, and Ranalla pressed her thighs into his sides. The horse jumped and galloped off with Ranalla. The stirrups were too low for her and she could not stand up in the saddle. The saddle was also too big for her, but she tilted her body forward and let loose the reins while Sardun flew over the Field of Hyrule with her. He was so fast, so insanely, terribly fast, and the rush of speed seized Ranalla like a burning hand that closed around her mind. Far behind, she heard Ganondorf's frustrated cry as he finally dissolved her barrier.

Out of nowhere, a fence appeared before Ranalla, and she felt a hot wave as shock shot into her limbs. She had never jumped with a horse, but Sardun was heading straight for the fence. In vain she pressed herself into the saddle to stop him, and he did not react to her attempts to drive him to the side, either. She was too small and too light for the huge horse, and she grabbed the long hairs of its red mane and held on tight as Sardun jumped over the fence without hesitation. As he landed, Ranalla almost broke out of the saddle, but her fingers stayed clenched around the strong red hair in her hands. Sardun continued to run at a fast gallop and Ranalla saw the next fence in the distance.

She had to do something!

She had Ganondorf's magic, but what could she do? Should she jump off the horse and slow her fall? What if she fell under Sardun's hoofs? Could she build her protective barrier so quickly? The fence came closer and nothing she was doing had any effect on the horse. He would run and jump over the fences until he was exhausted. She clamped her fingers even tighter into the animal's mane and closed her eyes, hearing her own heart pounding as Sardun jumped again. She lost her balance and slid to one side of the horse, and her weight dragged at her. With Ganondorf's magic she increased the strength of her muscles and pulled herself up, panting. Warm sweat lay on Sardun's back and she noticed him slowing down.

Far, far behind her, a shrill whistle sounded. The horse turned abruptly, and Ranalla's fingers tightened instinctively, as the centrifugal force threatened to rob her of her balance again. Sardun fell into a fast trot and ran back. Ranalla knew that the fences were again on their path, and she wondered how Sardun would react to them at a trot. She tried to stop him by tugging cautiously at the reins, and finally he stopped.

"Good boy," she praised him and stroked his neck. "Come, let's look for another way."

She gazed along the fence and found a gap several horse lengths away. Gently, she directed Sardun there and let him go through the gap.

A movement in her field of vision told her that Ganondorf was running toward her. She did not know what to do. He was certainly angry, and he might take back his magic. She did not want him to be angry at her. But she did not want him to take back his magic, either. Panic seized her as she thought about this possibility. Her heart was beating fast and she felt his magic cling to hers, as if it wanted to stay with her.

What had caused all this?

Confused, she wondered how it had happened, and she remembered the guards she had seen on the bridge, and the stinging feeling of jealousy that had seized her. The guards had caught her the first time...

But today Ranalla had escaped them!

Ganondorf was still far behind the first fence, but she did not want to ride at a gallop on Sardun again because she could not control him. Besides, she could not sit properly in his large saddle and therefore wanted to find her horse.

Where had he left it? Could she reach it by foot?

Ranalla let Sardun stop and jumped from his back. In the wide Field, she looked around and found the direction to the passage to the Gerudo Valley. Quickly, she made herself invisible and ran off. But as her muscles moved again, Ganondorf's magic began to work again in her body, pulling her forward with raging power. While she ran, she watched Ganondorf, who was following his path to Sardun. Ranalla ran on, jumped forward in high somersaults, landed in the grass, and rolled off. Again and again, she looked back and saw Ganondorf finally reaching his horse.

While she continued running, she now jumped to the side to erase her trail in the grass. Ganondorf had mounted his horse and was looking over the Field. She stopped and saw through the flicker of her invisibility shield that he took the path to the Gerudo Valley at a slow gallop.

He would pass her shortly.

He did not seem to see her, and Ranalla stopped where she was, for she wanted to see his face as he rode past her. She still did not know what to do, except that she did not want to give back his magic.

Ganondorf let Sardun slow down, but his gaze was fixed on the passage to the Valley. He stroked Sardun's neck, bowed his body, and whispered something to the horse. When he had reached Ranalla's position, he stopped and looked around, but he did not see her.

A deep sadness fell over Ranalla as she watched him. She had annoyed him, angered him, disappointed him, and put him to the test. He was there in front of her, his long hair flying in the wind. He was hers, and she loved him. His magic was inside her and made her strong, but his love made her even stronger. His magic was just a rush, but he himself was reality...

 _Now_ she had to dissolve the barrier, _now!_

But he had already turned around and rode on. Ranalla closed her eyes and let her tears flow freely, and at that moment she felt his whirl hit her. Her eyes flew open and she saw him approach her. He stopped a few steps before her and descended.

What should she do?

He came closer and she saw the painful expression in his eyes. His magic screamed inside her, and she wanted to run, but he had anticipated her movement, and his hand grabbed her arm and hurled her to the ground. His magic inside her reared up, and, gasping, she crawled over the grass and wanted to rise again, but he held her leg tight and pulled her back with a violent jolt. He was over her and turned her on her back, then he grabbed her arms and tied her with his body on the ground. She heard him breathing heavily, his golden eyes flashing grimly above her. The red strands, which she had braided, fell onto her face, and his face was so close to her! Eagerly, she raised her face to him and let her strengthened magic reach for him, and she felt his astonishment as he approached confusedly and closed the gap between them. Whimpering, she closed her eyes and kissed him with wild desire for the touch of his tongue, and felt him shudder as he gave it to her and returned her kiss. Slowly, she let her head sink back into the grass and he came with her as he kissed her. He sent his magic to her, which enveloped and caressed her, and her body trembled. The grip of his hands on her arms loosened and she snatched her arms from him and wrapped them around his neck. He put his arms around her and turned with her on his back without interrupting the kiss, and she felt his relief and joy.

After a long time, she broke from him and lay her head on his chest. He held her with his arms and she felt his heartbeat at her ear.

"Will you take your magic back, Your Majesty?" she asked timidly.

"Do you want to give it back, Madam?"

"No, Your Majesty. Not yet. Were you angry with me?"

"A little, Madam. But actually, I was more afraid. If you ever ride on Sardun again and want him to stop, you must say to him softly, _'ho.'_ It's an order the Sand People taught him. I do not use it, but I know he always reacts to it."

"Thank you, Your Majesty."

"May I consider your second wish fulfilled, Madam?"

She giggled. "Yes, Your Majesty."


	16. Chapter 16

A/N: Chapter 16 is here. I hope you could spend the holidays with the ones you love.  
I am working hard on the translation of the remaining chapters and would love to hear from you how you liked the story so far. There is more to come :-)  
Enjoy!

 **Chapter 16**

1

The sun was setting when Ranalla and Ganondorf brought their horses over the bridge back to the Fortress. First, he led her through the barrier, then both horses. In the courtyard of the Fortress, two guards came and led the horses away to take care of them, and she went with Ganondorf to the dining room for dinner. His four bodyguards were waiting for them again and brought them their food.

Ranalla noticed that the other Gerudo Sisters had also cooked food in their bowls, but the four guards brought them exactly the same prepared fruit and vegetables with the accompanying leaves and the boiled sand-lizard eggs that they usually had in the Temple. In the village of the Sheikah community, she had eaten similar food and knew it well, but she wondered why Ganondorf alone consumed almost exclusively raw vegetable food.

She looked around the dining room and sought Sirla. Some Sisters had greeted her when she had entered the room with Ganondorf, but Sirla had not been among them, and Ranalla could not find her anywhere in the hall. Ganondorf noticed her searching glance.

"If she is not here, she may be in her room, Madam," he said. "If you want, you can visit her after dinner."

Ranalla nodded and put some cut fruit and vegetables on her plate. She ate the leaves with her hand, and while she chewed, she wondered from where the Sisters had taken the food for Ganondorf. Had they brought it from the Temple? What else was part of their duties?

When they had finished, Letria came to Ganondorf and took him with her. Ranalla remained alone and went out to the front of the Fortress. It was already dark and several torches were burning in the courtyard. Soft string sounds attracted her attention, and she remembered the two Sisters Ganondorf had mentioned to her: Rista and Laira.

 _The Pearl and the Lark._

There was a torch in a corner of the courtyard, and two benches of stone were standing there opposite each other. On one bench Ranalla saw two Sisters with guitars, and from them came the music.

Slowly, she made her way to the bench. The two women were playing a fast song, one playing the melody on her guitar and the other accompanying her. As Ranalla approached, she recognized the lively melody of the sword dance, which they had also played at the celebration of the Day of the Sun. She reached the benches, and both Sisters looked up at her and smiled. Ranalla recognized the face of one, for it was also one of the Sisters who had overpowered her on the bridge and held her arms tight. The other Sister was pregnant, and her belly arched gently above the waist of her trousers.

While they were playing, the one who was pregnant pointed Ranalla with her eyes to the other bench. Ranalla sat down quietly and listened to the song. She saw the fingers of the women dancing skillfully across the strings while they looked at each other, challenging one another again and again. They obviously had great fun with their music. In her mind, Ranalla tried to assign the movements of the dance she had learned from Ganondorf to the music, and was delighted when she arrived at the end of the dance at the last note of the song. When they had finished the song, both women turned to Ranalla.

"Greet the face of the moon, Sister Ranalla," said one.

"You too," said Ranalla kindly. "His Majesty told me that you practice every evening. May I know your names?"

"I am Rista," said the woman who had first greeted Ranalla. She was the one who was pregnant.

"I am Laira," said the other.

"Greet the face of the moon, Laira," Ranalla offered her the traditional evening greeting of the Gerudo.

"You too, Sister Ranalla," Laira replied. "Would you like to play music with us?"

"I would love that," said Ranalla. "But first I want to visit Sirla. Do you know where she is?"

"You want to visit Sirla?" Rista asked in amazement. "But why? She wanted to kill you!"

"Yes," Ranalla replied, ignoring the warning. "I want to talk to her. Where can I find her?"

"She's in the moon circle," Laira said.

"Moon circle?" repeated Ranalla.

"Yes. We call it so when a Sister bleeds."

"Oh," said Ranalla. "Are there any particular rules about that?"

The two Sisters looked at each other.

"Didn't the King tell you, Sister Ranalla?" Rista asked her with a frown.

"No. Could you perhaps tell me?"

"Sisters who are in the moon circle cannot be seen by men," said Rista. "When the King is in the Fortress, they must remain in their rooms, or veil themselves."

"I understand," said Ranalla soberly. "May I visit Sirla when she is in the moon circle?"

"You may, Sister. But not the King. You must go to her alone."

"Thank you," said Ranalla. "Where can I find Sirla's room?"

"She and I share quarters," Laira replied. "Our room is on the same corridor as the King's room, but two entrances further. She is probably playing on her ocarina, so just follow the sounds."

Ranalla nodded and went back to the Fortress. She knew the way to Ganondorf's room, for two months ago he had healed her wounds from the fight against Sirla there, and after her adventure in the Wasteland he had also brought her there. She went in through the front entrance, followed the ascending corridor to the exit, then turned around the corner and took the next entrance.

When she stepped into the corridor, she heard the ocarina. It was a slow, sad song that Sirla was playing, and Ranalla stopped at the entrance to the room from which the music sounded. She knew the Sisters announced themselves by simply calling for the one they were looking for, but she did not want to disturb Sirla. So she waited until she had the impression that Sirla had finished her song. Then she stepped into the entrance, and called with a timid voice:

"Sister Sirla?"

There was no answer, but the ocarina did not play any further.

"Sister Sirla?" Ranalla repeated.

"Who is there?" she heard Sirla's suspicious voice.

"Ranalla," she said.

"Sheikah!" Sirla hissed from inside. "What do you want?"

"Can I come in?" Ranalla asked.

"All right," she heard Sirla's voice again. "But you have to be quiet, I'm practicing."

Ranalla entered the angled entrance. As she turned around the last corner, she saw Sirla sitting cross-legged on one of the two beds in the room. She was leaning with her back against the wall and her long, open hair fell over her shoulders to her waist. In her hand she held her ocarina, and on her left wrist Ranalla saw a red ribbon.

Ranalla stepped up to her, and Sirla pointed gruffly with her head to the free place beside her. Ranalla sat down on the bed.

"Greet the face of the moon, Sirla."

"You too," Sirla answered tensely. "I heard you rode on Sardun."

Ranalla gasped. "How do you know..."

"No one has ever ridden on Sardun except the King. How did you do that?"

"I surrounded the King with a magical barrier, then I mounted Sardun."

"Ha!" Sirla laughed joylessly, shaking her head. "I should have thought. I already wondered what you might have done to make him let you ride on his horse. At first, I thought you might perhaps be pregnant."

Ranalla lowered her gaze, embarrassed.

"If you had not turned up, _I_ would be pregnant, Sheikah," she said sharply. "I would be four months pregnant already! Instead, I am in the moon circle, and must hide from the man I have chosen – with whom I had almost _been!"_

She spoke the word with a furious tone and showed Ranalla the red ribbon at her wrist with a sudden movement of her hand. Ranalla looked at her, but Sirla swallowed and turned her face away with a painful expression.

Ranalla wondered if she should put her hand on Sirla's shoulder. But Sirla turned to her again.

"How many times did he make love to you, Sheikah?" she asked bitterly. "Did you feel his hands on your skin? Did you feel his tongue in your mouth? Did you have him inside you and receive his seed? Tell me, Sheikah! I wanted him to be my first man! I asked nine Sisters how it was when they were with him, and all of them..."

She broke off when her voice failed. Ranalla saw her closing her eyes and shaking her head. Without looking at Ranalla, Sirla continued with a longing voice:

"They all told me about his arms, which held them, about his lips, which kissed them, about his... powerful... And he made _each_ of them happy, Sheikah. They slept in his arms all night, and in the morning he made love to them again. Each of them was pregnant after a single night! How many times did he make love to you?"

Her voice had grown louder, but now she almost screamed, and anger lay in her tone.

"Sirla..." began Ranalla with a gentle voice.

But Sirla shook her head violently.

"He _chose_ you, Sheikah! He is the King, and you are not Gerudo. You can have him as often as you want! Has he made love to you once, or twice? Or maybe every day? Do you sleep in his arms and wake up with him in the morning? Does he make love to you again in the morning?"

Ranalla closed her eyes, shaking her head.

"Oh, I see..." she heard Sirla whisper. "I can see it in your face, Sheikah... You are longing for him... Do you understand now what you have taken from us?"

"No, Sirla," Ranalla protested, shaking her head. "Although it was not my intention, I took him from _you_ , but not from your people. And if you want to know, he makes love to me every night and every morning, and sometimes several times, until we lie exhausted in each other's arms. I have felt his hands on my skin, his lips on mine, and I have... received his seed. Everything the other nine Sisters have told you is true. I wish you could have experienced it too, but unfortunately, that is not possible. I am sorry."

"Then tell me, Sheikah," growled Sirla hatefully, "why are you not pregnant if he makes love to you every day! You have been with him for more than four months. What's wrong with you? Are you perhaps too old?"

Ranalla gasped. She looked at Sirla's face and saw the pain in her eyes. She was so taken aback that she did not find an answer to Sirla's insinuation.

"I..."

But she broke off, for she did not know what to say.

"You were _lucky_ that I was not on the bridge!" Sirla said in a dark voice. "If I had been there, I would have killed you before he could take your hand."

Ranalla's heart was racing, and she stared at Sirla speechlessly. She swallowed as she felt the tears crowding in her eyes. Hastily she rose from the bed and ran out, but as she turned around the corner into the corridor, she bumped into Ganondorf. Instinctively he wrapped his arms around her, but she withdrew and ran sobbing to the end of the corridor and out into the open. She jumped down from the second level and ran to the stairs that led to the hollow path. Tears were running over her cheeks, and she furiously threw glowing magical balls on the ground. When she came to the Gerudo Valley, she ran to the corner where the rock wall met the edge of the ravine, for she wanted to jump down into the water. She wanted to hide, or perhaps escape the pressure with the stream of the frantic river flowing down the gorge...

"Madam!"

She heard Ganondorf's voice behind her, but she did not care for him, and ran to the point where she had jumped down with him. She wanted to jump into the void and call her magic to slow her fall, but when she was about to run over the edge, she hit the barrier, and it threw her back. She fell on her back and bumped her head against the rocky ground. Perplexed, she remained lying for a moment, then she drew her knees to her stomach and turned to one side. She leaned her hands on the ground and shook her head, as her gaze swayed and she was about to fall again. Boots that were approaching came into her field of vision, then strong hands grabbed her shoulders and pulled her to her feet.

He embraced her and stroked her hair, and she wrapped her arms around him and clung to him. His magic crawled over her body and twisted around it, and Ranalla felt an urging warmth coming from his body. He pulled away from her and raised her face to his.

"Look at me, Madam!" he said sternly. "What happened? What disturbed you so?"

She wanted to lower her gaze, but he did not let her. He took her face in his hands and forced her to look at him.

"Tell me, Madam! Was it Sirla? What did she say to you?"

Ranalla shook her head.

"It is not important, Your Majesty. She... she provoked me, and I lost control."

"Did you sing?"

She shook her head again. "I promised Rista and Laira to come back later. Maybe I should do that now..."

"Maybe you should take a warm bath under the waterfall first, and calm down, Madam," he said seriously.

"Ah, you just want to..." Ranalla scolded him, but he pulled her to him with a jerk and kissed her. She could not help but surrender to him and open her lips, and his lips burned on hers like fire. From his hands, she felt the wild warmth flowing into her body like snapping snakes. She reached out for the snakes and caught them, and she began to drag them to herself. Suddenly, Ganondorf pulled away from her and withdrew his magic. She gasped and opened her eyes as the connection to his magic broke off.

"What..." he breathed confused, but Ranalla sent her magic to him again.

"Leave it with me, Your Majesty!" she begged, trembling. "Please... Let's go into the water..."

He looked at her suspiciously, but then his magic slowly came to her again. Her eyes closed and she tilted her head back as his magic reached her. She leaned on his arms in her back and pleadingly opened her lips. Whimpering, she grabbed his face when she felt his lips, and he pressed her to himself. He took her hand that lay on his cheek, and pulled back from her, went with her through the barrier, and they both jumped together from the edge of the ravine to the ledge in the depth. With a crackling whirl Ganondorf removed their clothes and left them there in a heap, then he pulled Ranalla with himself as he jumped down into the water. After a few quick swimming strokes, they were behind the waterfall. Ganondorf pulled Ranalla to himself in the water and kissed her again. While they kissed, they built a barrier around the basin and warmed the water with a few whirls.

Ranalla shivered as the fine, white hairs on her skin rose, reacting to the sudden change in temperature. Ganondorf's magic inside her intensified all her senses, and she had the impression that she could feel every single drop of water with her mind. The water smelled fresh and a little of moss, and the air was filled with tiny droplets that reflected the stars. Ganondorf's tongue in her mouth was soft and warm, and his lips caressed hers with gentle pressure. Her fingers on his back felt the movements of every single muscle as he pressed her to himself, and his magic flowed into hers in a fine stream and dissolved in gentle waves. He withdrew from her and looked into her eyes, full of wonder, while he raised her to himself in the water. Full of joy, Ranalla felt how he slid into her, and greedily she observed the little impulses in his face, that told her about his pleasure. She wrapped her legs around his body and felt him come to her deeply, fill her, and press against the walls of her inside, and blissfully she let him carry and support her while he made love to her. She raised her face and looked above her, and as time slowed down, she saw a swarm of glittering droplets float over her, that fell into the flowing water behind her back with single, jingling sounds. She felt Ganondorf's body shiver when his grip around her tightened and he pressed her to himself, groaning, and like a silent stream that branched out and flowed in every part of her self, she felt his fulfillment, which merged with hers and ended time.

When the world was born again, through the veil of her elation, she heard his soft voice at her ear.

"Are you all right, Madam?"

Whether she was all right?

What did they say, those nine beautiful women with whom he had lain?

They knew nothing.

None of them had experienced this.

She looked into his eyes, and there she saw what he gave to her alone. All jealousy fell from her, and for Sirla she could feel a friendly compassion, for she knew now, why Ganondorf had left that beautiful, strong Sister for her.

He loved her because she was like him. She was the being he had longed for. She was his Ren-Bird, and she belonged to him.

Smiling, she looked at him.

"I am all right, Your Majesty. Thank you."

2

"What is this rule with the veiling when the Sisters are in the moon circle, Your Majesty?" Ranalla asked when they were on their way back to the Fortress. "Did you initiate it?"

"Me?" Ganondorf asked indignantly. "Oh no, Madam. That law is as old as my people. If it were up to me, I would have long since abolished it, but the Sisters cling to it, and..."

He trailed off and Ranalla noticed how he looked at her frowning, as if he had remembered something important.

"Yes, Your Majesty?" she said. "Don't they want to abandon it?"

"No..." he muttered. His hand closed tighter around hers and he shook his head with a confused expression. "Nobody could explain to me where this custom comes from, Madam. I guess that eventually there were more men with the Gerudo, and that this custom was created to protect the women during the time of their moon circle, and offer them some rest. Perhaps it was initially a way to bring to the attention of the community that a woman has reached her fertile age."

"Sirla is in the moon circle, Your Majesty. She will not leave her room while you are in the Fortress."

"That's a pity, Madam. What do you want to do?"

"I will try to sing with Rista and Laira if they are still outside."

When they came into the courtyard, Ranalla saw, to her delight, that the two Sisters were still sitting on the bench. She went to them and sat down opposite them. They just finished their song as Ranalla took a seat.

"What instrument do you play, Sister Ranalla?" Rista asked.

Ranalla smiled.

"Oh, I do not play an instrument, but I can sing. Would that work?"

"What can you sing?"

"I can sing many Sheikah songs, but only one song of the Gerudo."

"Which one?"

 _"The Longing of the Ren-Bird."_

Rista's eyebrows lifted in appreciation.

"Do you want to sing it with us?" she asked. "Do you sing the first or second voice?"

"I can sing both, Sister Rista," Ranalla replied.

"All right," said Rista. "I sing the second voice, for I cannot sing as high as the refrain requires. Laira will play the first voice on the guitar, in case you lose the melody. She will give us the note."

Laira tugged at the strings of her guitar and Ranalla heard the two tones. She kept the higher tone in mind.

"I will play a small introduction and then we will begin to sing. You will know when you should begin. Are you ready?"

Ranalla nodded.

She listened to the few bars that made up the introduction, and then came her entry.

 _"I fly alone in the sun of the morning,"_ she sang, and she noticed delightedly that the pitch was not too high for the refrain. She concentrated on the complicated melody and unconsciously moved her fingers as she counted the slow rhythm of the three-quarter time. As she sang, out of the corner of her eye she saw several Sisters stopping beside her and listening. The accompaniment of the guitar enchanted her, and her voice, which had sounded a bit timid at the beginning, grew fuller and adapted to the volume of the guitar.

When they finished the song, her heart pounded with joy, and the two Sisters with the guitars looked at her with a wide smile.

"That was wonderful," said Laira, who had heard their two voices. "But something is missing..." She looked to the Fortress, where Ganondorf was leaning against the wall with his arms folded, watching them.

"I'll get her," Ranalla heard Weri's voice behind her. "I'll send him to the drill ground. You can pick him up there later, Sheikah."

Ranalla was confused. Whom was she going to fetch? She looked after Weri, who went to Ganondorf and spoke briefly to him. He nodded to Ranalla, made his way to the training ground behind the Fortress, and Weri went into the Fortress.

"Would you like to sing it again?" Rista asked. "Is the pitch okay for you?"

Ranalla nodded and Rista began the introduction.

"We're going to sing it three times!" she whispered before her entry came.

Ranalla nodded again and began to sing. She looked at Rista's fingers, that were swiftly changing the chords and plucking the strings. Two times they sang the song. When Ranalla started with the third run, she heard in amazement the ocarina playing behind her. With a beating heart, she finished the song, and the surrounding Sisters clapped enthusiastically. Ranalla turned and looked at Sirla. Her long hair was still open and framed her beautiful face. Sirla held her ocarina with both hands, her fingers resting on the holes. Ranalla looked longingly at the little instrument, for she would have liked to try it again, but she did not dare to ask. It had become quiet and the Sisters looked at the two of them, waiting anxiously for what would happen.

"You played well," said Ranalla.

Sirla's jaw jerked uneasily and she looked away. Ranalla waited patiently, and then Sirla looked at her again. She took the string of the ocarina from around her neck and pulled it over her head.

"Here," she said, giving the ocarina to Ranalla. "Learn to play _The Longing of the Ren-Bird_ on it."

Perplexed, Ranalla took the ocarina out of her hand.

"If you break it, I'll kill you," Sirla said with a glare. She raised her head and threw her loose hair aside as she turned and proudly walked back to the Fortress.

3

She was lying in his arms on the large bed in the pavilion, and his magic was pulsing inside her. It had been different, this time, and they had both noticed it. The feelings that Ranalla had felt, while Ganondorf had made love to her beneath the little yellow flowers of the pavilion, had been deeper, more intense.

 _More beautiful._

That was the right word. Down there, in the warm water of the basin under the waterfall, something had happened to them. Was it Ganondorf's wild, untamed magic inside her that had caused this? She had carried his magic inside her all day long, and now that she was lying on his chest and felt his heart beating, she realized that she had used only his magic, almost all the time. His magic had mixed with hers in her body, but she could call it specifically, and use it. And every time she had done so, she had had that _good_ feeling of invincibility and strength that she longed for, like someone dying from thirst longs for the saving spring.

She had put Sirla's ocarina to her lips, after Sirla had left. She had carefully laid the string around her neck so that the ocarina was protected. With a few short sentences, Sirla had told her two months earlier how to play it, and Ranalla had then remembered her instructions. She had had to remember to hold her fingers straight, and not crooked, because the holes of the ocarina were too big for her fingertips.

After saying goodbye to the Sisters with the guitars, she had gone to the exercise site behind the Fortress, where Ganondorf had been fighting two of his four bodyguards at the same time with two scimitars. He had whipped one scimitar out of each one's grasp, but they had defeated him. When the fight had ended, he had come to Ranalla and she had shown him the ocarina. He had quietly smiled and kissed her, and had asked:

"Are all your wishes fulfilled, Madam?"

She had nodded. "Yes, Your Majesty. Thank you."

"Do you want to go home?"

 _Home?_

With a little prick, she had thought of the fact that she would have to return his magic. His magic, which was capable of such miraculous things, when he gave it to her...

She had looked into his eyes and nodded. He had taken her hand and gone with her to the gate, where the horses had been waiting for them. As usual, he had sent his guards ahead, and they had ridden quietly over the quicksand field and through the Wasteland. The guards had waited for them and taken care of the horses, and silently Ranalla had climbed up to the pavilion at his hand.

It had been a special day, full of new impressions and revelations. As they passed through the barrier into the forest, Ganondorf had raised her in his arms and taken her to the pavilion. She had known that she should have been exhausted, but Ganondorf's magic in her body had kept her awake and sparked her passion as he had kissed her in his arms and laid her on the bed. A long, long kiss had followed, at the end of which their magic had met and their bodies had joined, and they, amazed, had explored the new feelings the change had given them.

Since they had returned from the ravine, however, Ranalla had felt that Ganondorf had wanted to ask her something. It had to be something important that captured him, but he did not seem to know how to start.

Ranalla turned in his arms to face him. He lay with his eyes closed, but she could almost feel his mind working behind his forehead. She straightened and leaned on her elbow. Tenderly, she stroked his face and brushed the red hair aside.

"Ask me, Your Majesty," she said softly.

Surprised, he opened his eyes and blinked. The lonely light ball in the corner of the grassy area gently lit his face as he turned his head toward her and smiled.

"You noticed, Madam?" he said, and she heard the relief in his voice. Ranalla nodded softly.

"I know you want to ask me something important, but you do not know how to start. Ask me, please."

"How old are you, Madam?"

A shudder seized Ranalla. She had not expected this question. But she wanted to answer him, for she thought she knew what was bothering him.

"I cannot say exactly," she said. He frowned, but she put a finger on his lips. "At the age of two hundred and twenty years, a misfortune befell me, which caused me to die. By a mysterious turn of fate, however, my body and mind were brought to a place where my life was preserved. At this place I spent two hundred fifteen years sleeping without aging. So, physically, I am two hundred and twenty years old."

Ganondorf nodded. "What was that misfortune, Madam?"

"It was the destruction of my people, Your Majesty," said Ranalla.

"And what was that place where you slept?"

"I cannot answer that question, Your Majesty."

Ganondorf looked at her for a long time.

"I have other questions, Madam," he said. "Will you answer them?"

"Yes, Your Majesty, as far as I know the answer."

"What is your life expectancy, as a Sheikah?"

"About seven centuries, Your Majesty. If we reckon with my physical age, this means that I have spent a third of my expected lifetime."

Ganondorf also straightened up and she realized that he was counting in his head.

"In Hylian years of life you would be roughly in the middle of your third decade."

"That's right, Your Majesty."

"Up to what age can a woman of your people have children, Madam?"

"About to the middle of the fifth century."

Ganondorf nodded and took a deep breath.

"Did you ever in your life have... but no..." He closed his eyes and she felt him tremble as he remembered. "You were a virgin, Madam. You have never had a child?"

"No, Your Majesty."

"Why not, Madam?"

"Because I lacked the right man, Your Majesty," she said gravely.

"Can Sheikah have children with members of other human nations, Madam?"

"Yes, Your Majesty," Ranalla said, nodding.

"Do you know of such cases?"

"Yes, Your Majesty."

"What kinds of cases are those?"

"As far as I know, we have not had children with Gerudo, Your Majesty, if you mean that. But I know of couples of Sheikah women and Hylian men, and vice versa."

Again, Ganondorf took a deep breath, and Ranalla could see that it was difficult for him to ask the next question.

"When you asked me about the custom of veiling today, Madam, a thought came to me. You have been with me for four months now, and during this time I have never seen you enter the moon circle. I'm wondering if perhaps I, or... or the twin sisters, have done something to you that affected your fertility."

Ranalla shook her head smiling and kissed his lips.

"No, Your Majesty," she said. "You have not seen me entering the moon circle because the women of my people do not bleed. If an egg is not fertilized, our body simply destroys it and uses the substances for other tasks. It does not shed it, so we do not bleed."

"How... how can you be sure whether you are pregnant, Madam?"

"As a woman from the Sheikah people, I have a special sense of the processes in my body, Your Majesty. I can assure you that my fertility is undamaged and that I am able to bear your child. However, with us Sheikah egg cells are not prepared as often as with the women of other peoples. Our cycle is... irregular, one might say."

"Thank you for your answers, Madam. Maybe I'll ask more questions later. Please forgive me if I offended you. It's because..."

"Do the Sisters put you under pressure, Your Majesty?"

He nodded. "When I took your hand there on the bridge, I made a decision, Madam. According to the law of the Gerudo I made you my wife and declared that I am no longer available. But there are some Sisters who are dissatisfied with the situation as it is now."

"Is that why Letria came to you today, Your Majesty?"

"Yes, Madam. Those sisters are of the opinion that they have the right to choose me if you do not get pregnant. They gave me another four months. If you are not pregnant by then, they will choose me again."

4

Ranalla swallowed. She _was_ pregnant. The Treasure had been growing in her for two months, and she felt his small presence in her body. She longed to tell Ganondorf about it, but she was not sure if he could know. Rauru's instructions had not been very precise in this respect, and she had not asked him, because at that time, in the Chamber of the Sages, she had not guessed that she would fall in love with the King of the Gerudo at first sight... That she could fall for him and remain with him as his wife...

She still had about four months until the effects of her pregnancy would not be concealed anymore, at least for Ganondorf. Perhaps she would be able to deceive the Sisters for two more months after that, but not him. Not if he still made love to her every night, and usually every morning, and sometimes during the day, when the opportunity arose. She enjoyed his tenderness and knew that he wanted her because she wanted him too, but this way he knew her body so well that he would notice the slightest change immediately.

"What will you do then, Your Majesty?" she asked hesitantly.

"I do not know, Madam. Now that I have found you, I cannot live as before. I would rather die than be without you ever again."

Ranalla shuddered at these words. He pulled her to him and laid her on the bed, and Ranalla suddenly felt like the most precious treasure when she saw his loving gaze. Her heart twitched at the thought of the things she had done to him. How had she ever dared to put him to the test?

Without hesitation, he had given her a part of his magic and had not yet reclaimed it. He had done everything to fulfill her wishes. He had pursued and found her in the field of Hyrule, had made love to her in the warm water as she had dreamed, and all this after she had left him for the second time...

"Your Majesty," she said, "why did you agree to go with me to the Field of Hyrule, even though you must have feared that I might flee?"

He smiled and shook his head.

"But I never feared that you would flee, Madam," he replied. "You have given me your word."

"Have I?"

"On your first day here in the Temple, Madam. Don't you remember? You said: _I cannot say more, but you have my word that you do not have to fear that I will flee or commit an attack on you."_

"But... how could you be so sure?"

"Because I know you cannot lie, Madam. At least not concerning your feelings toward me."

Ranalla frowned uncomprehendingly, but then she felt his magic coming to her.

"Madam," he said, "I _chose_ you the night I saw you on the bridge for the first time, and I felt instinctively that I had finally found my Ren-Bird. You let me touch your cheek, you lowered your mental barrier when I asked you, and you... enjoyed my tenderness on the way to the Temple. I felt your longing the moment I touched you on the bridge with my magic, and in a wondrous, infallible manner, I knew that all the feelings I received from you were honest."

Ranalla closed her eyes as she thought of the evening four months ago. Ganondorf's magic gently stroked her body, and she felt his hand stroking her cheek. She opened her eyes and looked at him again.

"At that time I did not understand why I was so sure, Madam. But thanks to you, I now know from the book of Andyr Kendrice that magic and love are inextricably linked. They are, so to speak, made of the same substance, and it is not possible for a magically gifted being to lie about his feelings. We can camouflage ourselves, conceal our intentions, even deceive somebody, but when it comes to love, we must always be honest."

"But... but if you did not think I was going to flee, why did you follow me?"

"For two reasons, Madam. I gave you my magic this morning without being able to estimate what it would do with you. I was afraid that you would get too far away from me, that I could not get there fast enough to help you if you got hurt."

Ranalla remembered the worry she had seen in his eyes. She raised her face to him and gently kissed his lips.

"And the second reason?" she asked.

Ganondorf smiled and shook his head, then looked at her again.

"Because you wanted it, Madam. You wanted to know if I would. And I wanted to show you that I would follow you at any time, and search for you. I would seek you anywhere in the world, Madam."

"But... out in the Field, when I was invisible... I thought you had given me up."

"Oh no, Madam. I knew exactly where you were. I just feared that my magic would make you audacious again, and then you would start playing that little chasing game with me again."

Ranalla's eyes widened. "But how... How did you find me, Your Majesty?"

Ganondorf smiled with a mischievous glow in his eyes.

"Sardun found you, Madam. I asked him to search for you and he found you by your smell. He showed me the place where you were closest to me, and the direction in which you were. I just had to send out my magic and dissolve your barrier."

Ranalla snorted, perplexed.

"What would you have done if Sardun had not found me?"

"Oh, he would have found you in any case, because he is very good at reading tracks, better than me. You rode on him alone today, Madam, and he could take in your scent. Now he will never forget it again."

"But..."

But Ganondorf put a finger on her lips and she fell silent.

"I want you to release my magic now, Madam. I know you're tired, and I want you to sleep. For tomorrow you will do what I say again, and I do not intend to spare you."

Frightened, Ranalla gasped. She did not want to give back his magic. All day she had tried to come up with some way to avoid it, but nothing had occurred to her. She pressed her lips together and turned her face away from Ganondorf. He turned her face back to him and looked at her with a serious expression.

"I do not like to remind you, Madam, but you promised. Will you kiss me or should I use the other method?"

"The other method?" Ranalla repeated, puzzled. "What other method?"

"The method that you will not like, Madam. I don't want to use it. I would rather like to kiss you."

Ranalla thought. He was serious. If she did not release his magic, he would take it back anyway. He could do it, even against her will. And if she forced him to do so, he would not give his magic to her again in the future. This thought was even more terrible than the prospect of having to return his magic now. She closed her eyes and sighed, then she looked at him and nodded.

"I will kiss you, Your Majesty," she said with a heavy heart. "Forgive me, please."

She closed her eyes again and felt his lips on hers. As always when she felt him, she could not help but open her lips and let his tongue in. The desire stirred in her, and she felt his hands caressing her body, and her hair... Just one more time she wanted to have him, _please_ , just one more time...

"Come, Madam..." he whispered. "Let it go."

Then his lips were back on hers. Tears came into her eyes as she opened the embrace of her magic, and his magic flowed out of hers, and left her. It hurt so badly... but from his fingers on her hair a whirl crawled to her forehead, and this let her sink into sweet oblivion.


	17. Chapter 17

**Chapter 17**

1

In the morning, Ranalla surfaced from sleep like from a deep lake. When she opened her eyes, it was as if she were coming out of the water. Her weight, which had previously been gently supported by the water, suddenly tugged at her, and her eyelids would not remain open.

Next to her, Ganondorf was resting on his elbow and was looking at her. A quick glance to the sky told her that the sun was about to rise. He had awakened her, as he always did...

She felt his hand at her waist, pulling her closer to him. He would make love to her, like every morning. But she felt so heavy... so weak... as if something were missing.

Suddenly she knew.

How could she get up and survive the day? Fighting, archery, running, riding, singing, reading, eating... without...

She needed it. She must have it! She would ask him...

"Are you awake, Madam?" he asked.

"Hmm..."

"How do you feel?"

"I don't know... not good."

He said nothing more, and she forced herself to open her eyes and look at him. He stroked her face and came closer...

Yes, he would give her his tongue, and with it...

He kissed her and she let him in with longing and opened her magic for him.

 _Come... to me..._

But no! It did not come...

Frightened, her eyes flew open as Ganondorf parted from her. She panted and breathed heavily, and panic crawled into her body. She looked at him with wide eyes and raised her face to him. Greedily, she opened her lips, and tears entered her eyes as he shook his head with a sad smile.

"No, Madam," he said, stroking her hair.

Her hands clenched to fists, and she struck his chest above her.

"Give it to me!" she implored. "I need it. Please!"

He shook his head again. Her heart pounded wildly and her hands began to tremble. Her body twitched with violent convulsions, and she felt like she would lose her mind. With a loud scream, she reared up and hit him with both fists.

"Ah! Why don't you give it to me? I need it! I can't go on any longer! Don't you see how you are torturing me?"

"Quiet, Madam..."

He stroked her, but she sprang up and backed away from him.

"Why did you take it from me?"

He straightened and reached for her, but she crawled backwards over the bed. Her body was hurting and her magic was so sluggish, so tired, so exhausted... She needed it. She needed his magic to live! And he would not give it to her!

She closed her eyes as horror seized her mind, and she staggered backwards into the void. At the last moment, before she fell from the edge of the bed, she felt Ganondorf's hand grabbing her arm and pulling her toward him. He laid her gently on the bed and she felt his lips. He kissed her, and in the desperate hope that he would still give her his magic, she opened her lips and sent her magic to him. He let his magic come to her, but it only touched her; he gave her nothing. But his kiss grew deeper, more demanding, and she felt her body ready to receive him. She wanted to have him inside her, feel the sweet pain, when he widened her only a little, then she wanted to feel his powerful movements, and her desire for his magic mingled with the desire for his body, and she no longer knew what she wanted.

A deep shudder ran through her body as he pulled away from her and gently opened her legs. His magic stroked her and surrounded her whole being, but his lips were suddenly elsewhere, and his tongue caressed that hidden part of her body, the one that was longing for him so much.

Her thoughts were lost in a frenzy of madness, and when her body reared up in a shudder, she felt him enter. She screamed and clawed her fingers into the muscles of his arms, and each of his movements caused a convulsion of reality that shattered into millions of small parts as he evoked the second fulfillment in her. He kissed her, panting, and this time she could enjoy his kiss and answer him without waiting for his magic. He was inside her and a thousand shivers were dancing over her body, and she wondered how she had endured the two hundred and twenty years of her previous life without him.

"How are you now, Madam?"

"I don't know, Your Majesty. Better, I believe."

"Will you look at me?"

She opened her eyes and looked into his. He must have been awake for some time, for his hair was braided.

He was so _beautiful..._

"I love you, Madam Ranalla," he said. "But I will not give you my magic anymore."

Ranalla listened to herself, but the news caused only a small prick in her body.

"Why not?" she asked.

"Because you are addicted to it, Madam."

"I'm not..."

But he was right, of course, and she knew it.

"Yes, Madam. I suspected it for a while, and last night I obtained the confirmation when you refused to give it back. Your body has become accustomed to it and is resisting the withdrawal. Besides, I believe that my magic has a special effect on your feelings."

Ranalla thought of how his magic had strengthened all her sensations, especially those she experienced when he made love to her.

She nodded slowly.

"It's true, Your Majesty," she said. "When you gave me your magic and made love to me... then... then...

"Yes, Madam. But it also intensifies your other feelings. The fear, and the jealousy, and the anger. And you are tormented."

"But what am I supposed to do now?" Ranalla asked hesitantly. "Compared to your magic, mine is... deficient."

"No, Madam. My magic is not better than yours. It is merely different. The first time, I gave you only a tiny amount, and it kept you awake for half a night after you were completely exhausted. I had to give you more every time so it could have the effect it had the first time. But I was so eager to make love to you that I refused to see."

Ranalla's eyes widened in astonishment.

"It feels as if something inside you wants to drain it from me when I give it to you, as if something wants to consume it. I will stop now, so that you can get well again."

"But it hurts so much, Your Majesty! How can I get well at all? I will always yearn for it! What shall I do if I am in pain?"

Ganondorf chuckled and kissed her. Then he looked at her tenderly and raised his eyebrows.

"This," he said.

"Ah! You just want to..."

"Yes, Madam." He nodded eagerly and rolled with her on his back. _"All disturbances of magic can be treated with Andyr._ This is written in the book of Andyr Kendrice, and someone with such a name must definitely know. And now that I know what Andyr is, I will make you well."

2

So much love he gave her!

She woke up in the morning longing for his magic, but before she could think about it, he sparked her passion with a simple kiss, and she forgot everything. He let her work hard, and filled her days with ever new challenges. He had taught her to read and write music, and between meals and love in the pavilion, she was so busy that she could hardly think of his magic.

With the verbal instruction Ranalla had received from Sirla, she began to play the ocarina. She also found the fingerings for the higher tones of the second octave, and Ganondorf told her that he had also seen Sirla playing halftones when she used the fingerings for the whole tones, but covered the hole under the right ring finger. The melody of the song about the Ren-Bird was not easy, but Ranalla practiced in every free moment. Nabooru had given her a small leather bag that she could attach to a belt around her waist, and Ranalla kept the ocarina there.

She could not explain why Sirla had given her the Ocarina. When she asked Ganondorf, he said:

"Sirla is one of the Sisters who gave us the four months, Madam. As I know her, she wanted to tell you that you now have some time to get pregnant. Until then, she will retain her claim. But she does not give it up."

Two months of the grace period had passed, but Ganondorf did not seem to worry. Ranalla did not know how far the Sisters would go to defend their claim to him, and she had decided to tell him about her pregnancy, if necessary.

One day, after breakfast, Ranalla went to the closet in the living room, where the swords were kept, but Ganondorf came to her and took her hand.

"Not today, Madam," he said. "I want you to put on your combat suit and take your scarf with you. Today we ride into the desert."

She looked at him in astonishment, but he gestured to her to hurry. She ran upstairs into the garden, changed, and put the scarf around her neck. When she came back, Nabooru sent her out. Outside the entrance to the Temple, she found Ganondorf in a dark suit similar to her combat suit, and he had also pulled a dark cloth over his head. All six horses were saddled outside, and the four guards, dressed like Ganondorf, were sitting on their horses, waiting for her. She mounted her horse, and then she rode behind the guards. Ganondorf came and took her hand as they approached the barrier, and then they rode up the embankment to the higher part of the valley and out into the Wasteland.

When Ranalla estimated that they were about halfway to the Fortress, a turn to the right suddenly appeared in the mark, and the guards followed it.

"Come on, Madam," said Ganondorf.

Ranalla tightened her muscles and Druja ran faster. In contrast to the intricate line that marked the way to the Fortress, this path was straight. By now, she had made the way to the Fortress so often that she had learned to keep her sense of direction on the way through the Wasteland, and she had the impression that they were moving southward through the fog. Ganondorf stayed behind her and Ranalla followed the four Sisters. Surprised, she came out of the Wasteland after a short while, realizing with pride that her feeling had been right. For the first time, she was in the open desert.

"Put on your scarf, Madam," she heard him call. She pulled the cloth over her face so that only her eyes remained free. The guards rode straight ahead between two dunes, and when Ranalla looked around after a long time, she no longer knew where she was. But the guards still rode on, and when they had once again ridden between two high dunes, Ranalla saw dark shapes on the horizon. Questioningly, she turned her head and looked at Ganondorf, who was still behind her.

"Rocks, Madam," he said.

Ranalla tried to distinguish the contours through the shimmering hot air as they approached. There were several tall, narrow rocks sticking out of the sand. As they came nearer, Ranalla saw other, smaller forms, and a glittering blue surface between the rocks.

Water! And the other forms were bushes and palm trees that grew on a grassy surface around the small water basin.

When they reached the water, they all descended and tied the horses to the trunks of the palm trees so that the horses could eat the grass. The guards took bags of a solid cloth from their saddlebags, and Ganondorf took Ranalla's hand.

"Come, Madam."

He followed the guards, and Ranalla went with him to the other side of the oasis, farther into the desert. Then the guards suddenly stopped and turned around.

"Stay here and build a protection barrier around yourself, Madam," said Ganondorf, "then you can watch."

Ranalla called her magic and built a barrier around her body. She saw Ganondorf go a little farther, then he stopped. He raised both hands, sending several whirls across the ground, which hurled the sand into the air and swept it to one side. Amazed, Ranalla saw a number of small troughs in the sand, that contained small white balls. Most balls were about as big as her fist, but there were also many smaller ones.

When the whirled-up sand had settled, Ganondorf took a bag from one of the guards, then came to Ranalla. She dissolved her barrier and he took her hand. He went with her the few steps up to the next hole and showed her the spheres.

"These are the eggs of the sand lizard, Madam," he said. "Find the smallest eggs from the nest and place them carefully in the bag. Their shells are quite hard, but they still break when they bump against each other violently. Do not take more than half of the eggs in each nest."

Ranalla took the bag and began to pick out the smallest eggs from the hollow. She saw that the other Sisters were also collecting the eggs with a bag. Ganondorf, however, went about searching between the nests, and again and again, he looked up to the peaks of the rugged rocks. She noticed from the corner of her eye that he sometimes stopped and examined the sand, and a few times he seemed to pick up something and put it in his pocket.

After a short time, Ranalla's bag was full, and she went to Ganondorf.

"Well done, Madam," he said. "Thank you." He formed another whirl with his hand, which lay around the bag and built a protective barrier around it.

"Now we can take them to the Temple, Madam. Are you hungry?"

Ranalla nodded.

"There are yellow berries on the bushes. They don't taste good, but they are very nutritious. Use your magic to boil some eggs. You can drink the water from the pool, it is clean."

"What will you do, Your Majesty?" she asked.

"I will wait until the Sisters are finished, then I have to cover the eggs with sand again. After lunch, we will climb that rock there. I want to show you something." He pointed to the tallest of the slender rocks.

Ranalla went to the bushes by the water and found the small, yellow berries. They tasted slightly sweet, but also bitter, and she had to get used to the wild taste. She took six small lizard eggs from another hollow, laid them on the ground, and warmed them with her magic.

"How long do I have to warm them, Your Majesty?" she called to Ganondorf.

"Count to one hundred, Madam," he replied.

She counted, and when she had finished, she took her scarf and gingerly rolled the eggs into it, for they were hot. She went and sat on the bank of the water basin. There she ate three of the eggs and collected the shells in her scarf, then she took water from the basin with her hand and drank. The water was cool and tasted fresh and soft.

Ganondorf came to her and brought her still more berries in his hand. She ate some of them and gave him the three remaining eggs. The guards also came and brought Ganondorf more eggs, so he could warm them for them. Ranalla offered to do it, because she had already finished eating. Meanwhile, the Sisters went to the bushes and picked the berries.

"Can you eat the eggs raw, Your Majesty?" Ranalla asked when she had boiled the eggs for the Sisters.

"Unfortunately not, Madam. We tried, but they do not do good to the body. They contain a substance we need, but we have to boil them so that we can eat them. These eggs are the only food we cook in the Temple, and we always do it with the help of magic."

"Why do you otherwise eat only raw food, Your Majesty?" Ranalla asked.

"Why do you ask, Madam? Would you like something else?"

"No, Your Majesty. It's all right, I'm just curious. I saw that the Sisters in the Fortress also eat cooked food."

"We eat fruit raw, Madam, because it is their natural state, and because this way we can use all the leftovers in our garden. Besides, we do not have to support a fire and do not need firewood. My body has become so accustomed to this diet that cooked food no longer appeals to me. When we go to the Fortress with the guards, they always take some food, as you probably noticed."

"Have the guards agreed to this diet, Your Majesty?"

"It was the condition I imposed when they wanted to work for me, Madam. Since they are also responsible for my food, they had to adapt." He looked at the four women who came back from the bushes. "I do not know if it matters to them as little as it does to you, Madam."

The four women had heard his last words and bowed their heads as they approached again to get their eggs.

"The change was difficult, Sister Ranalla," Risha said softly to her. "We needed some time to adapt, but now it's all right. We got used to it."

Ranalla smiled gratefully at Risha and nodded.

Ganondorf stood up and took her hand.

"Come, Madam," he said. "We are going to climb the rock."

3

He went with her to the highest of the column-like rocks that towered far into the sky. From below, the tops of the rocks seemed to be flat. As they approached the rock, she saw that there was no way to climb up. Ganondorf stood at a certain point and let go of her hand.

"I'm going to jump now, Madam. Note the point where I land. When I have jumped to the next place, you need to get exactly where I was before. I created the ledges so that you can always see the next one. Raise your hand like this when you have arrived and can jump further. Are you ready?"

Ranalla nodded. She called her magic and intensified the strength of her muscles. Then he jumped and landed about ten man lengths higher. He looked down at her and she memorized the place and nodded at him. He jumped again and landed even farther up. Ranalla bent her knees and jumped to the place where she had seen him. She landed on the edge of a small platform, which seemed to be hewed from the rock with magic. She staggered briefly, but tilted her body forward and regained her balance. Then she looked at Ganondorf who was waiting for her, memorized the place where he was standing, and raised her hand beside her head, as he had shown her. He jumped, and she followed him. Seven times she had to jump until she had reached the top.

With the last jump, she landed beside him on the top of the rock. As she looked around, she saw that the ground was not as flat as it looked from below. Huge boulders lay around, and many smaller stones.

"Give me your hand, Madam," said Ganondorf. "I will build an invisibility shield around both of us. Please do not let go of my hand, because we must not be visible. I must lead you, for I know the way through the rocks here. Be quiet and do not speak."

Ranalla nodded and gave him his hand. Her heart pounded with excitement and curiosity. He built the barrier, and its familiar flicker appeared before her eyes. But she could still see him, and he slowly pulled her on a winding path through the boulders. She noticed that he was heading for a group of large, round stone blocks, that lay on a lower part of the platform. As they descended from the higher part, Ranalla saw that the large blocks formed a narrow circle with space for another block in its center. But the center was empty.

They moved closer and closer to the circle, and when they were about twenty paces away, Ranalla heard a strange noise that sounded like a moan. Ganondorf looked at her and put a finger to his lips. He slowed down and stepped cautiously over the scattered stones. They moved around the circle in an arc, and then Ranalla saw a narrow opening between the large stones. From there the moaning sound seemed to come. Ganondorf made two more steps, then drew her gently toward him and placed her in front of himself. With one finger he pointed to the opening in the stones. Ranalla saw nothing at first and looked at him questioningly. But he lifted a finger and begged for patience.

Ranalla looked again and heard the moaning sound again. Through the opening she saw something flare up, but it passed quickly, and then she could see what it was. In the circle, there was a large blue bird, about two times the size of an eagle, and its wings glittered in the sun while it calmly groomed itself. Ranalla almost gasped, but Ganondorf put a hand on her mouth from behind. She nodded eagerly and he took another two steps toward the opening.

Now Ranalla could see the bird even better. Its body was covered with fine blue feathers, which looked more like a kind of fur. On its wings, Ranalla saw the reflecting feathers Ganondorf had told her about. The upper part of its beak was bent downwards and the lower part upwards, so that the two parts formed a cross at the top. On its head, the bird carried a grayish-yellow crest of long, broad feathers, which also shone when the sun fell on them.

The Ren-Bird was standing in front of a large nest on the ground, built of dry branches from the berry bushes that grew down on the oasis. As the bird took a step to the side, Ranalla felt Ganondorf's grip on her hand suddenly tighten. In the nest was a large egg, and its shell shone in the sun like a polished black stone. While Ranalla was looking at it with fascination, a second bird came out of the hidden area of the circle and sat down on the egg in the nest. It opened its beak and uttered the moaning sound she had heard before. Ganondorf's hand pressed her ever tighter, and she had to control herself not to scream. She looked at him and saw that he was staring, panting, at the second bird, full of wonder and fascination. Ranalla touched his arm with her other hand and shook him softly, and his eyes twitched toward her. She raised her hand, which lay in his, and grimaced with pain. He sent her an apologizing glance and pressed her to him. Then he raised his other hand and made a gentle gesture toward the nest behind the rocks. A soft breeze rose, passing through the gap into the rock and through the feathers of the two Ren-Birds. Ganondorf turned the wind out of the rocks again, and Ranalla saw a small cloud of glittering feathers that settled in front of her feet.

From his pocket, he took a bag of a fine cloth and gestured to Ranalla to pick up the feathers. She gathered them with another soft wind, picked them up, and put them one by one into the bag that Ganondorf held open for her. In the bag there were some small feathers already, and now Ranalla knew what Ganondorf had been looking for down on the ground. It was difficult to coordinate their movements since they both could only work with one hand. But finally Ranalla had managed, and Ganondorf closed the bag.

Apart from the many small feathers glimmering in the light, Ranalla had counted about fifteen large flight feathers almost as long as her forearm, and their surface shone like a mirror in the sun. Ganondorf asked her with a look whether she had seen enough, and she nodded. Carefully they made their way back. When they reached the edge where they had arrived before, Ganondorf unlocked the barrier and pressed Ranalla to himself, full of passion. He found her lips and kissed her stormily, and Ranalla clawed her fingers into his dark desert suit. How could it be that she was on fire every time he kissed her?

"He found her!" he said incredulously. "Did you see her, Madam? He found a partner, and she has even laid an egg!"

Ranalla nodded.

"How did you know the bird was living here, Your Majesty?" she asked in astonishment.

Ganondorf laughed softly. "Because I invited him, Madam."

"You invited him?"

He nodded. "I built the circle of the boulders for him. Someday, when I was here alone, I saw him circling up in the sky. I knew he was looking for a suitable place for a nest, because he wanted to find a partner. I thought he liked these rocks, because he circled for a very long time. At some point, I came here with the guards and decided to give him a place where he could build his nest. I climbed the highest rock here and built the circle. From the Temple I had a pair of armored gloves, which I reinforced with my magic, and so I managed to move the heavy boulders. Despite the gloves, it was painstaking work..."

He shook his head as he remembered.

"How long has he lived here?" Ranalla asked.

"Just before you came to me, I found out that he accepted my invitation. The place here is very protected and you cannot see the nest from below. You cannot even see it from up here, if you do not know exactly where it is. Actually, only the Ren-Bird can see it."

Ranalla was proud of him and smiled.

"Didn't you know until now that he had found a partner?"

Ganondorf shook his head again. "No, Madam. Since I saw that he had accepted the nesting place, I have not been here. I'm sorry I hurt you, but I was too surprised."

"What are you doing with the feathers, Your Majesty?" Ranalla wanted to know.

"I'll show you when we're back, Madam. Please do not speak about this place before my guards and Nabooru, and also not before the other Sisters in the Fortress. I do not know how many Ren-Birds still exist, and I want to protect this couple as best I can."

Ranalla nodded and he kissed her again.

"And now we are going to fly, Madam," he said as he pulled away from her. "Hold your magic ready, it's a long way down. If you feel me slow down, you must also slow."

He took her hand and they took off, and then they jumped down and flew with their magic until they landed softly at the foot of the rock.

The Ren-Bird had found a partner and she had laid an egg. Ganondorf knew nothing about the egg of his own Ren-Bird. Did he sense it?

4

They rode back on the same route, having only to keep north to reach the Wasteland. As the sun sank, they reached the Temple, heavily packed with the sand-lizard eggs. They brought the bags, with the fine barriers that Ganondorf had woven around them, into the store room, where there were special containers with small hollows for the eggs. Ganondorf broke the barriers around the bags, and Ranalla put the eggs in the hollows of the nests together with the guards and Nabooru. Then Ganondorf surrounded the eggs again with a barrier that kept them fresh, but allowed single eggs to be removed.

When they had finished, she went up to the garden with Ganondorf to wash in the basin of the spring. He insisted he wash the dust of the desert off her body himself, and in the end they both ran naked through the garden to the pavilion, where they jumped all over each other with greed. After that, Ranalla would have preferred to fall asleep on the spot, but Ganondorf brought her the red tunic made from the fine fabric, and put it on her. When he came with her trousers, Ranalla wanted to take them out of his hand, but he held her tight and kissed her passionately, and Ranalla fell onto the bed and helped him put them on her by placing her legs in the right position. She realized that he would have liked to pull her trousers off her again, and for a moment she thought of asking him to give her his magic. She was tired from the long ride through the desert, and she knew that he wanted to show her what he was doing with the feathers of the Ren-Bird, and dinner was waiting for them, too. But she was afraid of what his magic had done with her two months ago, and she said nothing.

Full of longing, Ganondorf stroked with his finger over the delicate material at that special point of her body, and looked at her with serious eyes.

 _"Andrys, Ranalla ill Sheikah,"_ he said softly. "You were reborn for me. I know now."

Ranalla looked at him blankly.

"The Sheikah are extinct, Madam. At least that's what everybody assumes in our time. Your sister Impa and yourself are the only survivors of your people. Through some mysterious move of fate, you came to me from the past."

Ranalla leaned toward him and gently kissed his lips.

 _"Andrys, Lorin ill Deron, Andyr ill Serok,"_ she said. "I do not know what the Goddesses were thinking when they preserved me and created you. Perhaps it was the same Goddess, and there is a great plan somewhere that must be fulfilled."

She wanted to tell him, _now,_ it was the right moment.

Why had she not asked Rauru?

Since the ultimatum of the Sisters from the Fortress, Ranalla had always looked for the large owl and had hoped to get a clue from him. But he had not come. So she had to wait. Perhaps he came to the Temple, or Ganondorf found out by himself. He was good at figuring out things...

After dinner, Ganondorf took Ranalla's hand and led her through several corridors into a room where she had never been before. By now, it was completely dark, and with his magic, he lit the candles in a candlestick standing on a table in the middle of the room. Ranalla looked around in the flickering light and realized that the room was another workshop. She saw various tools and devices, as well as drawings and written pages, that were lying on the table and on the chests everywhere.

Ganondorf pulled out the bag with the feathers and Ranalla saw that it was also surrounded by a fine barrier. He dissolved the barrier, then went to a shelf, took a flat box out of it and brought it to the table. In the light of the candles, Ranalla saw that the box was divided into many small compartments, and inside where the feathers of the Ren-Bird, all neatly arranged according to size. Ganondorf spread the feathers from the bag onto the table and sorted them into the compartments. A few small ones remained, which he burned, with the fire of the candles, into fine dust.

He brought the box back to the shelf, then came to Ranalla. He took a deep breath and looked gravely into her eyes.

"No one knows of the Ren-Bird and the feathers, Madam, not even my guards and Nabooru. The twin sisters do not know, either. This room is protected by an invisible barrier, which allows only me past it. If you are at my hand, you can also go through."

"But why, Your Majesty? Why can't anyone know?"

Ganondorf smiled lightly, then went to a chest and opened the lid. When the light of the candles fell on its content, Ranalla was frightened, for she saw a bright light glinting from the chest. Ganondorf took out something shiny and brought it to the table. He put it before the candlesticks and Ranalla could look at it. It was a metal shield in the shape of a hexagon with a pointed lower end. It had a red border, and within its outline was what struck Ranalla the most. Almost the entire outer surface of the shield within the outline was covered by large, shining feathers of the Ren-Bird. The light of the candles was reflected and multiplied by the shield, and the reflection produced a bright golden spot on the ceiling of the room. A small part was still missing in the reflecting surface, and now Ranalla realized why Ganondorf had collected the feathers so carefully.

She ran with her fingers over the shining surface and felt that it was surrounded by a strong energy field that she otherwise only felt when she was close to powerful barriers.

"Do you like it, Madam?" Ganondorf asked.

"It is beautiful, Your Majesty," said Ranalla. "But why... why can't anyone know about it?"

"The Ren-Bird is not a magical being, but its feathers have the ability to ward off magical attacks. I have collected the feathers since I was a child. I have never found as many as we found today. Perhaps it's because now there are two Ren-Birds living on the rock. I hope I can finish the shield with the feathers we found today."

"But how did you know that the feathers have this ability, Your Majesty?" Ranalla asked. It was amazing.

"I learned by accident, Madam. As a child, I just picked up the feathers because I found them beautiful and wanted to play with them. One day I used some feathers as targets for my magical exercises that the twin sisters had assigned to me. I put them in the sand and tried to hit them with a fireball. But they threw the fireballs back at me and I had to duck and jump to the side so as not to be hit by my own attacks. When I realized what I had discovered, I continued to experiment with the feathers. I took care that no one became aware of my research, because even then I knew how rare the Ren-Birds are. If anyone learns of this property of their feathers, the last ones will be hunted and killed."

"How did you get the idea with the shield?"

"As I grew older, I realized that I might eventually get into a situation where I needed to defend myself against the twins, Madam. They put me under more and more pressure and urged me to find a magically gifted woman and impregnate her. They even wanted to kidnap your sister Impa, but I managed to stop them from doing so. Mistress Impa is considered a member of the royal family, and a war would have been inevitable if the King had found out. I must admit that I am very glad, Madam, that you are _not_ Impa."

Ganondorf came to her and kissed her tenderly, and Ranalla remembered with a shudder the joy she had seen in his eyes that night on the bridge.

"The twins would not drop their plan," he then continued, "and they came up with ever new ideas as to how to get a magically gifted woman. Once they even suggested opening a portal to the future or the past with some dark spell. I then realized that they were serious, and that I had to do something. In spite of my strong magical abilities and the thorough training they had given me, I was not, and am still not, strong enough against the two of them together. So I started working on this shield, Madam. When it is finished, it will be able to ward off the twins' magic and direct their attacks back on themselves. It would be a way to defeat them, or even kill them."


	18. Chapter 18

**Chapter 18**

1

About a month later, Ganondorf had to ride to the Fortress after breakfast. He did not take Ranalla with him and did not give her a day off, but assigned her various exercises to build her muscles, to practice on the organ, and much more. He wrote a list for her, and Nabooru was supposed to monitor Ranalla and check off the list.

"I know you're going to do everything conscientiously, Madam," he whispered in her ear as he took leave of her. "But I do not want you to be alone in the Temple."

Ranalla growled, but he winked at her and kissed her as he sent that special whirl underneath her tunic, that whirl which caressed her breasts and made her whimper with pleasure. She clawed to his vest and held him tight. How was she going to survive the time without him?

"Wait for me, Madam," he said. "I will make love to you when I'm back." They spoke Sheikah, as it was morning, and Ranalla was glad the guards did not understand her – at least she hoped not. News spread at a violent speed in the Fortress, even when no one officially made it known.

With a heavy heart, she let him go and watched him as he rode with his guards through the barrier and up the embankment.

The Treasure had been in her belly for five months now, and she had grown more and more aware of his presence. The tasks that Ganondorf had given her required heavy physical exertion, and Ranalla had been glad that her body was not yet affected by her pregnancy. When she had been training with Ganondorf, Nabooru had brought her extra meals, which Ranalla had always consumed hungrily under Ganondorf's amazed glances. She had not had the impression that her weight had increased, but strong muscles had formed on her arms and legs, making her body now appear supple and powerful. They were not as strong as the muscles of the Gerudo Sisters, but Ganondorf was proud of her.

After she had performed the highest number of sit-ups she had ever counted, played for two hours all the pieces of her repertoire on the organ, run twenty times around the entire lower part of the valley, and fought for an hour with two scimitars against Nabooru, she washed in another bathroom, which the guards and Nabooru shared.

Afterwards, she helped Nabooru prepare lunch with fruit and vegetables that they had taken from under a barrier in the store room. For lunch, they sat at the table in Ganondorf's large living room, talking about Nabooru's life. She seemed to be about Ganondorf's age and had grown up together with him. Unlike the other Sisters, she seemed to feel a sort of sisterly love for him, and after some time Ranalla began to suspect that she was indeed his half-sister.

"Who was your mother, Madam Nabooru?" Ranalla asked. With Nabooru, she still spoke Hylian, and by now, it was one of the few opportunities for her to speak this language, for with Ganondorf and the other Sisters, she spoke either Sheikah or Gerudo.

"Her name was Sartal, Madam," Nabooru replied.

 _"Desert Star,"_ Ranalla translated the name. "That is a beautiful name. Doesn't she live anymore?"

Nabooru shook her head. "She was killed in a fight. Ganondorf wanted to heal her, but she refused. She was a proud woman."

Ranalla had to swallow. She wanted to tell Nabooru that she was sorry, but she did not know whether such condolences were common to the Gerudo people.

"Was she... also Ganondorf's mother?" she asked cautiously.

Nabooru looked at her with a loving smile.

"Has he ever told you about his mother, Madam?"

Ranalla shook her head.

"Then it might be better if you ask _him_ this question."

Ranalla frowned confused. Was Sartal Ganondorf's mother or not? Why was Nabooru speaking in riddles?

Nabooru seemed to feel Ranalla's insecurity and said:

"His mother was a special woman for the King. I just don't want to take away from him the chance to tell you about her, Madam. Just ask him, and he will answer you. He loves you."

Ranalla felt herself blush. Nabooru had that special gift to look into her heart.

She drank some cool tea and wondered how she could change the subject. For a long time, she had wanted to ask Nabooru about Andyr Kendrice, the author of the book on the nature of magic, but there had been no opportunity. She was sure that Andyr was a man, because he had used the words _andryti Irlan_ for Drilla, which meant that she was his biological sister and his lover. If he was Sheikah, she might be his half-sister, because such relations had not been a rarity among the Sheikah. Impa herself had performed the bonding with her brother Ghirahim before the disaster had happened...

Ranalla knew that _Drilla_ meant _Rose_ in Gerudo. Why did Andyr Kendrice's sister have a Gerudo name that had the same meaning as Impa's name in Sheikah?

She placed her cup on the table and looked at Nabooru, who was eating her meal in silence, giving Ranalla the time she needed.

"Madam Nabooru," began Ranalla. "I have another question that I have wanted to ask you for a long time. You told me at the beginning that the father of your daughter was a man from the royal court of Hyrule."

"Yes, he is, Madam."

"May I ask what his name is?"

"Yes, Madam. His name is Daniel Pierce."

"Have you ever met the name of Kendrice at the court of the King of Hyrule?"

"Oh, yes, Madam," said Nabooru, astonished. "How do you know it?"

"I saw that name in a book that His Majesty is reading. It is a book in Sheikah, and the author is Andyr Kendrice."

Nabooru thought, and Ranalla held her breath.

"The only person with the name Kendrice, whom I met in Hyrule, is a young lord named Richard Kendrice. He is a friend of Daniel Pierce. Unfortunately, he was already married when I met him, otherwise he would have been a suitable candidate. He is a good swordsman and politician, and I believe the King has appointed him a member of the High Council, although he is... only twenty-six years old."

"Could he have a brother, perhaps?"

"Daniel told me about him, Madam Ranalla. He was a single child and his parents no longer live. His wife, too, unfortunately died a few years after their marriage, so that his name will probably die out if he does not marry again."

Ranalla thought. Something important seemed to be hidden in this secret. Ganondorf had told her that the twins had given him the books. Where did they come from? And why had the author of the book on the nature of magic written it in Sheikah, although he had a Hylian family name?

"Has there ever been a woman of my people in the family of Lord Kendrice?" she asked thoughtfully, directed more to herself than to Nabooru. But Nabooru replied.

"I do not think so, Madam. After Lord Kendrice's wife died, I saw Daniel again, and he told me with regret that the family of Lord Kendrice could look back on a long, purely Hylian line that was now about to die out. He needs a son to continue his name."

That meant that at the court of the King of Hyrule, there was a certain Lord Richard Kendrice who was a widower and probably had no Sheikah in the previous generations of his family. If she assumed that the family of Lord Kendrice was the only one that bore that name, how did the name Andyr come into his family? It was a pure Sheikah name, and it was very rare. The only Sheikah besides her was Impa...

2

Ganondorf had promised to be back before dinner, and Ranalla longed for him. She was used to being busy all the time, and during her long training sessions with Ganondorf, she consoled herself with the thought that she would go with him to the pavilion afterwards. He also seemed to wait, and Ranalla had found that her body responded with an inexplicable, irresistible craving for him when he kissed or touched her. Sometimes, during the training sessions, her thoughts were concerned only with how she could best get him to interrupt the exercise and pursue her upstairs to the pavilion in a fierce hurry, until he caught her and tied her with his body on the bed. At these moments, she could barely concentrate on the fight, and she became angry when Ganondorf reproached her. She guessed that the longing she felt was a consequence of her pregnancy, because for several weeks she could feel the magic of the Treasure in her body.

For the afternoon, Ranalla found on Ganondorf's list the task to shoot with the bow with Nabooru for an hour, and then she could do what she wanted. Instead of one hour, they shot for three hours, for Ranalla wanted to keep her body and mind busy, concentrating on the archery. They had fixed a target disk on the platform on the top of the Temple, and were shooting arrows alternately. When their arrows were exhausted, they both ran up through the entire Temple and brought the arrows down again. In a flash of exuberance, Ranalla shot an arrow at the barrier on the embankment and noticed, amazed, that it flew through. Nabooru went and brought it back, and Ranalla was annoyed once more that the barrier did not let her through.

When they were exhausted from the frequent runs and their eyes were hurting because they had to constantly blink against the sun, they stopped. Ranalla washed her body once again in the guards' bathroom, then went outside and sat down on the steps in the shadow of the stone bridge to wait for Ganondorf. She took Sirla's ocarina out of the pocket at her belt and began to play.

While she was playing, her mind was again busy with the mystery surrounding the name Andyr Kendrice. She sensed that she could solve this puzzle if she carefully examined the connections and considered them from different angles. From her conversation with Nabooru at lunch, she now knew that a lord named Richard Kendrice, who was a member of the High Council, was living at the court of King Daphnis Nohansen. He was a widower and the last bearer of his name. The only Sheikah besides Ranalla who had been around for a long time was Impa. She could have married an ancestor of Lord Kendrice and have a son named Andyr. This, however, had not happened, if what Nabooru suspected was true. There had been no Sheikah in the past generations of Lord Kendrice's family.

Ranalla's fingers stopped in the middle of the melody, and her breath also stopped as her perspective suddenly shifted. She herself was a Sheikah and had grown up in the village of the community. She had trained the young Guardians of Time, and taught them to regard time as a plane, and not as a line. She had taught them to ask the question that she now instinctively posed as she had learned in her education.

In the past generations of his family there had been no Sheikah. But what about future generations of the Kendrice family? Was there perhaps a Sheikah in his family in the future?

The only Sheikah besides Ranalla was Impa.

She was there and he was there.

They saw each other every day, for Impa was a member of the High Council of Hyrule, and Lord Kendrice was, too, Nabooru had said.

Impa had been part of a blood couple, and the manifestation of her and her brother Ghirahim's magic had been the strongest that Ranalla had ever seen. If Impa had children, even with a Hylian man, they would probably have equally strong magic. Had Impa perhaps managed to give birth to a new blood couple? But no... it was the future...

Ranalla's head was spinning, and she breathed heavily as the thoughts took shape in her mind. Andyr and Drilla... They were siblings and they loved each other, and Impa was the last of the Sheikah...

It had to be so!

Andyr was Impa's son, and his father was probably Lord Kendrice. Drilla was Impa's daughter, and her father was probably another man. But the children did not exist yet. When would they be born?

Sweet little Impa...

One part of Ranalla was happy for Impa, that she would still be happy after all. But the other part of her was horrified. It meant that the books that the twins had brought to Ganondorf came from the future.

3

When the sun was ready to set behind the great rock of the Temple, Ranalla saw five dark spots floating in the mists of the Wasteland. First came Ganondorf on Sardun into the elevated part of the valley, and he rode the last part of the way to the Temple at a wild gallop. At the steps he stopped his horse and descended. Ranalla hurried toward him and jumped into his arms. She wrapped her legs around his waist and her arms around his neck, and he kissed her, full of longing, and pressed her to him. When the guards arrived on their horses, Ranalla broke from Ganondorf and took his hand. At the edge of her consciousness, she wondered at the fact that she was pulling him this time, but he looked at the guards and pointed to his horse, and then they both ran into the entrance hall, through the doors, through the corridors, and over the stairs, until they were on the platform on the roof. Ranalla's heart was racing in her chest and she gasped and growled impatiently as they ran the last steps to the barrier around the forest. When they had entered the barrier, she felt a sharp jolt on her hand that hurled her back to Ganondorf. She bounced against him and he held her tightly and kissed her with such greed that Ranalla thought she would burn under his lips. They both fell to their knees and Ganondorf took her in his arms and lay down with her on the grass. Without a word, Ranalla removed both her and his clothes with her magic, which burned like a fire in her body, and flowed to him. With a quick thrust, he was inside her, and she screamed as the lovely pain of his size drove her out of her mind. Again he kissed her, and she wanted to have him completely inside her body, devour him...

Her eyes flew open as he screamed and she felt his ecstasy rushing through her body in twitching waves. She looked into his eyes and saw the reflection of her feelings in them, mixed with confusion and immeasurable amazement.

His body sank onto hers, and he put his arms under her back and lifted her up without interrupting the contact. She clung to him with her legs until he had sat down with his back against a tree, and she sat on him, in his lap.

She pulled away from him a little to see his face. He had leaned his head against the tree and closed his eyes. She also closed her eyes and put her arms around his body, under his arms. Then she leaned her head against his chest and listened to the soft rustling of the leaves above them, and the murmur of the water in the basin of the spring. His slow breath gave her the rhythm, and as the sun sank behind the trees, her senses were also able to sink into a gentle sleep.

4

"Are you hungry, Madam?"

Nearly silent words from his lips at her ear crept into her consciousness, along with the realization that it was dark. She was lying on his chest, and his hands were stroking her hair. When she lifted her face to him, she saw his golden eyes glimmer in the darkness. She opened her lips and he gave her his.

Was she hungry? What should she eat? She had everything she needed...

Or no...

She had wanted to tell him something, ask him...

He broke away from her.

"Come, Madam. We shall go to the pavilion. You have not eaten, and neither have I. I will get us some fruit.

"I slept so well, Your Majesty," she said. "I've never slept so well before..."

He smiled and she saw the joy in his eyes.

"What did you do, Madam?"

"Oh, I ran around the valley twenty times, I made three hundred and seventy-six sit-ups, practiced for two hours on the organ, and then I shot for three hours at the target with Nabooru. And I played on the ocarina, too, Your Majesty."

"Did you have lunch?"

"Yes, Your Majesty."

"Did you have a snack?"

"No, Your Majesty. But I had you, and that was..."

"And neither did you have dinner?" he interrupted.

She shook her head.

"But I only wanted you, Your Majesty. I have waited so long!"

He laughed. "I think today for the first time the guards had something to do as we rode through the desert. They reminded me all the time not to ride too fast because they feared I would lose the mark."

He pressed her tightly to him.

"But I will not allow you to go to sleep without a meal, Madam. And I also believe that the bark of this friendly tree has left a great impression on my back, if I may say so."

Ranalla laughed and rose from him. He sent whirls to the light orbs and they gathered their clothes. When they arrived at the pavilion, he took the little basket and came back soon afterwards with fruit and leaves.

After they had eaten, he had gone to the spring to wash himself, then he had come back to Ranalla. In the meantime, she had taken the book on the nature of magic and begun to read. The author had described the different manifestations of magic with many examples, and Ranalla was sure that he himself had experienced everything he had described. His knowledge was so precise and detailed that it had been a pleasure to read the book. It was the first time she had read a book in her mother tongue since she had left the world, and with a touch of sadness, she now flipped back to the beginning of the book. Fascinated, she read the title and the dedication:

 _Natiar ill Tria, ill Andyr Kendrice_

 _Ner mil andryti Irlan Drilla_

She snorted softly and shook her head as Ganondorf placed the basket of fruit in front of her on the bed. She looked at him and saw the love in his eyes. Nabooru had told her to ask him, but this time Ranalla did not know how to start. How should she ask him about his mother and tell him about her discovery?

Lost in her thoughts, she took a pear from the basket and bit into it. She did not notice how she paused with her teeth in the pulp, and her gaze went into the distance as she pondered. Ganondorf lay down beside her on the bed and supported his head with his elbow.

"Ask me, Madam," he said.

She jumped when he spoke, for she had been far in the future. He stroked her shoulder to calm her, and she smiled.

"You noticed?"

He raised his eyebrows and shrugged.

She finally bit the piece from the pear and chewed slowly. When she finished, she decided to start.

"Today I talked with Nabooru about her mother, Your Majesty. For a reason I cannot explain, I had the feeling that she and you... have a special relationship with each other. At first, I thought she was your half-sister, but... she did not want to tell me. Will you explain it to me, Your Majesty?"

Ganondorf lowered his eyes and smiled. When he said nothing, Ranalla dared to ask further.

"She said she did not want to tell me because she did not want to take away the chance for you to tell me about your mother."

"Dear, old Nabooru," said Ganondorf with a smile.

Ranalla raised her eyebrows and looked at him questioningly.

"But you must continue eating, Madam," he said.

Ranalla nodded eagerly, biting into her pear again. Ganondorf took a deep breath.

"You know, Madam," he began, "I actually have four mothers. The mother who gave birth to me, the mother who raised me, and the two mothers who trained me. I've already told you about the last two, so this time I will tell you about the first two.

"There was a young Sister who was very beautiful. Her name was Renli. This name is an abbreviation of Renliss, which means _Flower of the Sun._

"So, _Ren_ means _Sun?"_ Ranalla asked.

"Yes, Madam," Ganondorf replied. "It is an ancient word, but we still have it today in a slightly changed form in our word for eye: _rinnan._ Our present word for sun is _lasti,_ as you know."

Ranalla nodded and Ganondorf continued.

"Renli could have chosen the best and strongest men, but she chose none. She was so beautiful that men were scrambling to introduce themselves to her, but she was proud, and no one was good enough. When she was almost twenty-five and still had not chosen anyone, the Sisters sent her with a small group to Hyrule Castle Town to get pregnant. At the court of the then King Regar Nohansen, there took place the great tournament on the occasion of the examinations of the Elite Soldiers, and many good fighters and strong men from all countries had come there. Renli didn't chose a man in Castle Town, either, but when she came back with the other Sisters, she was pregnant.

"She did not tell anyone who the father of her daughter was. All Sisters pestered her with questions and no one could understand how she had conceived, for no Sister had seen her fighting with a man. At the end of her pregnancy, she gave birth to a child who was not a daughter. She died at my birth, Madam, even before she could give me a name."

Ganondorf fell silent. A gloomy expression took hold of his face, and in the silence that settled between them, Ranalla did not even dare to chew her pear. She waited with a beating heart and looked at him until he lowered his gaze. When he looked at her again, he was still serious, but the darkness had gone.

"The women my mother shared her room with, Sartal, had born a daughter a week earlier, whom she nursed with her milk. She found me crying in the arms of my lifeless mother and laid me to her breast. She gave me my name and nourished me together with her daughter until we were old enough to part from her. So Nabooru became my sister, Madam. Her mother was my mother, although she was not. I have the best memories of her and I would have liked to have saved her when she was badly wounded after a fight with another Sister. But she ordered the Sisters to stop me, and I was still too young to be able to resist them. If I had healed her anyway, she would probably have hated me all her remaining life, because she would have thought that I had destroyed her honor."

Ganondorf frowned and shook his head softly.

"She had a weird notion of honor, Madam."

Ranalla finally dared to chew her pear. Ganondorf looked up at her and smiled. She would have liked to kiss him, but she had more questions, and a kiss would mean that the questions would be forgotten.

She swallowed her bite and said:

"Did you ever find out who your father is, Your Majesty?"

Ganondorf shook his head back and forth.

"Not for sure," he said. "But I have a guess. As I grew older, and especially when I had matured enough that my unusual body size began to show, the older Sisters began to make strange remarks when I was in the Fortress. They said that my facial features resembled those of King Regar, and I began to make inquiries. I found out that King Regar was a very tall, strong man, but when my mother conceived me, he was already thirty years old. He married at thirty-five, and the present King Daphnis Nohansen was born when I was five years old."

Ranalla's eyes widened from amazement as she heard Ganondorf's guess.

"There's more, Madam," continued Ganondorf. "Just a little more than four years ago, I sent Nabooru on a mission to the court of Hyrule. During her stay at the castle, she chose Daniel Pierce, the son of the royal sword-master, who was only nineteen years old at that time, and became pregnant by him. When she came back, she confirmed my resemblance to King Regar. The King was already an old man at that time, but Nabooru compared me to his son Daphnis and assured me that the resemblance could not be denied.

"Four years later, in the autumn of last year, I was invited as the King of the Gerudo to the same tournament on the occasion of the examinations of the elite fighters. According to the text in my invitation, King Regar had determined shortly before his death that the leaders of all the peoples of Hyrule should be invited to the tournament. It seemed odd to me, because the tournament has taken place every year for centuries. Everyone knows about it, and all good fighters are welcome, but as far as I know, invitations have never been sent."

Ganondorf paused, straightened up, and took a fruit from the basket. Pondering, he bit into it and chewed slowly.

"So I traveled to Hyrule Castle," he continued. "There I met with the new King Daphnis Nohansen both in a friendly fight and later on at the banquet, and I was overwhelmed by the resemblance. King Daphnis, however, took the realization of our resemblance with an amused smile, and at the court all assumed that it was an astonishing coincidence.

If my mother really chose King Regar, she did so against the Code, because he was already too old. I also do not believe she has tested him. As her character was described to me by the older Sisters, she had probably set her mind on seducing the King himself, regardless of the Code. Unfortunately, I could not ask King Regar when I was there last year, because he had already passed away by then. But I have his sword, Madam. It was the prize for the winner in the competition with two swords, and I defeated Daniel Pierce and won King Regar's large two-handed sword!"

Ranalla gasped as she thought of the large, noble sword Ganondorf had fought with since she had known him. Already on her first day in the Temple, she had noticed the sign of the Triforce on its sheath, which marked the weapon as the property of the royal family of Hyrule.

"Do you mean the sword that you also use when we practice, Your Majesty?" she asked in astonishment.

"Exactly that, Madam," he replied. "At the tournament, the sword was shown in a large display case in the entrance hall of the castle, and on the sign before it, it could be read that at the time of his death, King Regar had designated it as a prize for the winner in the competition with two swords. When I saw it, I wanted it immediately, because, as you have seen, it is very large and fits well with the smaller sword that was left to me after I had given the other to young Skyr."

Again Ganondorf paused and took another bite. A strange suspicion had come to Ranalla's mind, while she had been exploring this secret.

"King Regar arranged that you were invited to the tournament and determined his sword as a prize," she summarized. "Something tells me that this cannot be a coincidence."

"That was my impression too, Madam," said Ganondorf. "And the most remarkable thing about the whole story is that, apart from sword-master Pierce, his son Daniel, Impa, and me, there was no other swordsman at the tournament that mastered the fight with two swords. At the very least, no one reported for the competition in this discipline. The sword-master and Impa renounced to the competition, so I faced Daniel Pierce in the end. I had to borrow from him a second sword, since I had only one. The man was only twenty-three and shorter than me, but he was very, very good, Madam, and ultimately I owe it only to my extraordinary body size that I could defeat him."

Ranalla snorted softly.

"He must have known," she said, more to herself than to Ganondorf.

"What do you mean?" he asked.

"That you would win the sword, Your Majesty," she replied. "Why else would he make such an effort? He wanted you to get his sword."

"When I finally held the sword in my hands, I came to the same conclusion, Madam," Ganondorf agreed. "In any case, this whole story indicates that the late King Regar of Hyrule was my father."

5

For a long moment, Ganondorf's eyes were lost in the distance, but then he looked at Ranalla again as if something had occurred to him.

"At the banquet at the end of the tournament I mentioned," he said, "I also had the honor of meeting your sister Impa, Madam. Apart from me, she was the only magically gifted person in the room, and I asked her to dance. She is beautiful, Madam, just like you, and her Gift is of an overwhelming power. But when our dance was over, I knew she was not my Ren-Bird."

"How did you come to that conclusion, Your Majesty?" Ranalla asked in astonishment. "Impa was sixteen years old when we... parted. At fourteen, she lost her companion, to whom she had bound herself a few months before. But despite this traumatic experience, she developed into a strong, ambitious, yet gentle personality, who was adored by many young men in our community."

"I cannot say what was responsible for her behavior, Madam. As we danced, I tried to send my magic to her, but she blocked her magic with cold, emotionless indifference, and told me that her duties in the service of the King did not allow any romantic relationships. It was as if she had read my thoughts, and nipped my hope in the bud. But I was all the more irritated when, during our dance, I felt from two directions violent emotions of jealousy that were aimed against me. I looked around inconspicuously and searched for their origin with my magic, and I found two men. One of them had been introduced to me, during a small injury of the King at the tournament, as Henry Maynard, the physician of the royal family. The other seemed to be a young lord, whom I did not know. Both were in love with Impa, but they did not seem to know about each other."

Ranalla snorted softly and chuckled. Ganondorf looked at her in surprise.

"What amuses you, Madam?" he asked.

"The lord, Your Majesty. Nabooru told me about him. His name is Lord Richard Kendrice, and I am pretty sure that he is the father of Andyr Kendrice."

Now it was his turn to look puzzled.

"I do not understand," he said with a suspicious look. But Ranalla continued her guess.

"And the other man, Your Majesty, the doctor – he is the father of Andyr's beloved sister Drilla."

She reached behind the bed, where the book on the nature of magic lay, the one that she had read before. She opened it and showed Ganondorf the title and the dedication.

"Since you explained to me how you found the Sheikah word for love, Your Majesty, I could not get this name out of my mind. When I was still living with my people, I did not know anyone with this name. Only a Sheikah would give her son this name, and if his name is Kendrice, he has to be at least half Hylian. Since Impa has been the only Sheikah in the world for many years, I thought first that Andyr was one of her children from a past relationship. So I asked Nabooru if she knew someone of the name Kendrice, and she told me about a young Lord named Kendrice, who is the friend of Daniel Pierce, whom she chose. This man you were talking about, it must have been Kendrice. I can find no other explanation for the name Andyr Kendrice in this book."

Ganondorf looked at her, frowning.

"I know with absolute certainty, Madam, that Impa has no children. She told me. I do not think she would not say the truth in such a matter."

"That's true, Your Majesty, she has no children yet," said Ranalla. "But she will have at least two: a son and a daughter; and the son will write the book that the twin sisters have brought you. They brought it to you from the future, Your Majesty."


	19. Chapter 19

A/N: If you want to hear the song accompanied with the organ, you will find it on youtube with this link: (replace the underscores with dots): www_youtube_com/watch?v=8l4Sx8AclNU  
I will record a version with a real ocarina in the future, when I have finally set up everything.

 **Chapter 19**

1

The place beside her was empty when she awoke. It was still dark, and the night had become cool. The solitary white sphere shone in the corner of the grassy area, and Ganondorf was not there.

"Your Majesty?" she called softly into the darkness.

Why was he not there? He had never left her alone.

She put on her tunic and trousers and went to find him. She knew that he sometimes went to the spring when he wanted to drink. There she wanted to look for him first.

To the revelation of her guess concerning the origin of the books and of Andyr Kendrice, Ganondorf had not responded with as much surprise as Ranalla had expected.

"I came to a similar conclusion, Madam," he had said. "I just did not know exactly whether they had brought the books from the past or from the future. I think that they have access to both times, and I just hope that they will not do anything stupid while they are playing around with their time travels."

"But why did they bring you the books, Your Majesty?" Ranalla had asked.

"Because I wanted them, Madam. I wanted to extend my knowledge, I wanted to do useful things with my magic. I wanted to learn how it behaves in certain situations, and above all, I wanted to find out how it is when a magically gifted man loves a magically gifted woman."

He had paused and thought.

"All those Sisters who chose me, Madam..."

Ranalla had swallowed and looked away as a stab of jealousy hit her heart. But Ganondorf had pulled her to him and kissed her.

"I sent my magic to them, for that is what I am. But I received no answer, and it gave the whole matter a painful trait of duty. They... they could not even feel my magic."

Ranalla had felt him press her close to him.

"Do you understand now, Madam, what it meant to me when I found you there on the bridge? I touched you, and I sent my magic to you. You could not answer me yet, but I felt..."

As if to emphasize the word, he had pressed her tightly to himself again.

"...I felt that you _wanted_ to answer me. I felt how your magic reared up and wanted to come to me. Oh, I wanted you so much! And I still curse my ignorance when I think back. I had the knowledge here, but I could not understand it because I did not know Sheikah. A kiss – one single kiss would have sufficed to unleash your entire magic in a moment, Madam, and give us heaven."

Thus, the fate of the evening had been sealed.

They had still been naked, and the basket had been empty. Ganondorf had put it on the floor while he kissed her, and his hands had begun to wander over her body. Everywhere they had found places where they could linger, although Ranalla had wanted to have them only in one place. When his fingers had finally found that place, Ranalla had been leaning with her back against his chest and had raised her face to him. Ganondorf had given her his tongue, and her body had pressed against his hand, which had lured it, demanded and seduced it. With his little magical whirls, he could do miracles, and greedily he had held her tightly and had drunken her fulfillment from her lips as her legs had clenched around his hand, and then softened, ready for him. She had slid from his chest and he had slid into her. The whirls had opened her so much that even the pain of their union had been just a gentle tension, which, as always, had caused her to gasp for air with delight. He had drawn back and come forward again, and she had opened her eyes to bathe in his gaze. His magic had flowed to her like a warm, steady gust of wind, and met her magic, which had been pulsating in his rhythm. She had pulled him down to her, for she had wanted to feel his whole body as he moved faster, and she had already felt the first delicate waves readying to flood them both. Then the waves had rushed over them, and they had lain with intertwined limbs and hair under the yellow flowers guarding their retreat. Ganondorf had wrapped the covers around them and she had fallen asleep in his arms.

But now he was gone.

Ranalla made her way through the garden. She walked through the darkness on the narrow path across the meadow to the hedge, then she followed the path to the water basin. He was sitting at the spring, looking into the sky full of stars.

"It's almost winter," he said.

Above her, she saw the three belt stars in the constellation of the Hunter, glinting softly.

"When the next month is over, they will choose me again, Madam."

"What are you going to do then, Your Majesty?" Ranalla asked with an anxious heart. The magic of the tiny being that was the Treasure was pulsing in her body and demanded more and more love, and she wanted to give it to him so badly. But she could not tell Ganondorf.

"I do not know, Madam. I cannot... I cannot do it anymore, not after I was with you. Before... it was important to me that they were satisfied. But now... I just want you."

Ranalla remembered her conversation with Nabooru.

 _Somehow, the Viss must have induced a definitive bond in him._

Could the Sisters force him to father more daughters with them?

He looked at the water for a long moment before he spoke again.

"For... some time, I have felt something strange, Madam. I cannot get enough of you. My thoughts are constantly preoccupied with making love to you. If my powers were not exhausted after some time, I could... I could love you all day..."

He closed his eyes.

Ranalla bent down and took his hand.

"Come to bed, Your Majesty. I feel cold without you."

He smiled and let her pull him to his feet. He put his arm around her shoulders and they went back over the path to the pavilion. When they were back in bed, Ranalla straightened up and stroked his hair, feeling that there was something else he wanted to tell her.

"Tell me what depresses you, Your Majesty," she said.

He swallowed and turned his face to her.

"The twin sisters were here, Madam. They were here in the pavilion and woke me up. They complained that they could never meet me alone."

Ranalla stiffened as panic seized her. Ever since her full magic had awoken, she had felt safe from the twins and had pushed the lurking threat to the back of her mind. Shuddering, she thought of her task. She had to take the Treasure to safety. But how could she do that? Even if she had the heart to leave Ganondorf and flee, she would never get through the barriers...

"What do they want, Your Majesty?"

"They insist that I fulfill my part of the agreement. The part they have imposed on me. That I impregnate you."

"And then?"

He shrugged.

"I do not know. It seems that they are somehow pressed for time and absolutely want a child to be born. But I do not even know whether their plan will work out. I am Gerudo. Our heritage makes it so that we can have only daughters. Even the male Gerudo can only father female children."

"And what else is troubling you?" Ranalla asked with a beating heart. He had not told her everything.

A long moment passed before he spoke.

"I wonder, Madam, whether it is perhaps too often..."

 _No, no! Please, no!_

She squinted her eyes as the tears crowded in them. She could not even think of it, it was too terrible.

"What you feel, Your Majesty," she said in a trembling voice. "I feel it, too. My mind is obsessed with you, and my body is yearning for you so terribly at every moment of the day that it hurts when you are not there. You do not even need to write me lists or order Nabooru to supervise me. I could not help but work all day as hard as I can, just to somehow keep my thoughts and my body busy until you come. I love you with such insane might that I myself am frightened."

As she spoke, he pulled her into his arms and kissed her hair.

"When you make love to me, Your Majesty, I feel at home. It is as though for all these two hundred and fifteen years that I slept, my body had been waiting to be loved by you. You make me happy in a way I would never have dreamed of. Please, do not think it's too much. We are two people with the Gift of Magic, and I believe that the Goddesses who created us brought us together for a reason. If they did not like what we do, they would have let us know long ago."

She felt him smile.

"Your faith is strong, Madam," he said. "I also believe, but it is a little different. When we were on the rock at the nest of the Ren-Bird, I saw that he had found a mate. He was alone for so long, and sought after her. He built a nest and invited her in, and she came and laid an egg for him. When I saw the egg, my hope was restored, Madam. I know you will be pregnant, and I do not want to push you. I can handle the twin sisters. The Sisters in the Fortress worry me more. We depend on each other in a certain way, and I cannot afford to break off contact with them."

"How many Sisters are in the group that gave the ultimatum, Your Majesty?" Ranalla asked.

"It is about one third of the adult Sisters in the Fortress, Madam."

"But... so many..." Ranalla shook her head. One or two might have been tolerable for her, but so many...

"Do all of them want to choose you?"

"No, Madam. Actually, at the moment, Sirla is the only one who has a claim. The others just want to be able to choose me again because it has always been so. All the other kings before me were satisfied with the fact that they could be chosen, and with the opportunity to make a Sister happy now and then.

"I am the first magically gifted male Gerudo, and I can only love someone of my own kind, Madam. Now that I have found you, I can no longer lie with another woman, and such a case is not provided for in the Code. The Sisters agreed to recognize you as my permanent partner if you fell pregnant. However, if the ultimatum expires without you conceiving, they will insist that I send you away because you do not meet the requirements of the Code."

2

Ganondorf's words had disturbed Ranalla, but since she was already pregnant, she had calmed down again quickly. However, the realization that Ganondorf was obviously worrying, even if he tried not to let her know, disturbed her all the more. Time and again, she wondered if she should tell him about her pregnancy, and cursed herself for not having asked Rauru how to deal with such a situation. But back then, in the Chamber of the Sages, she had merely planned to reach the Temple quickly and unseen, to seduce the King, to conceive the Treasure, and to disappear secretly, if possible even the same night. She would never have dreamed that in the desert she would meet the man who was to be her destiny.

Meanwhile, she had given up waiting for Kaepora Gaebora. If Rauru was still in the world in the shape of the great owl and wanted to help her, he could obviously not reach her in the desert, and she was on her own. Therefore, Ranalla renewed her decision to tell Ganondorf about her pregnancy in time before the expiration of the ultimatum, if he did not find out for himself. On one hand, she realized that she was a bit afraid that he could notice the subtle signs of the progress of her pregnancy. On the other hand, however, she hoped that he noticed, because she did not want him to worry.

Especially the external changes of her body were concerning Ranalla. Most striking was the change in her breasts, because they had enlarged and grown firmer. Ganondorf, however, did not seem to notice, for he did not say anything, although Ranalla felt that her tunic was already stretching over her chest.

She had also developed an unusual predilection for the leaves of a particular plant, and the fermented milk in which the grains of cereal were soaked no longer was to her liking. So she went to Nabooru and asked her to serve her the grains soaked just in water. Nabooru looked at her suspiciously, but agreed. For Ganondorf she continued using the fermented milk, but for Ranalla she prepared a bowl each morning, that contained grains soaked in water only. Also, after a few days, Ranalla found on the table more of the leaves she especially liked than before. She was glad that she could continue eating fruit and the eggs of the sand lizard, otherwise she would have needed to change to vegetables.

One day, after she had worked with Ganondorf in the garden and they had made love in the grass, the smell of the soil from her fingers reached her nose, and she felt a craving for it. Without realizing, she ripped a tuft of grass out of the ground and dug her fingers into the resulting hole. She licked her fingers and Ganondorf watched her, fascinated, as she put the grass with its roots back into the trough. When she realized what she had done, she was frightened and looked anxiously at him, but he just laughed and said:

"You could have done that easier, Madam."

By now, she could play the song of the Ren-Bird on the ocarina flawlessly. She had noticed that the melody, as Ganondorf had taught it to her, contained a high note that she could not play on the ocarina. Therefore, she had to play the sound one octave lower. She had also learned other songs of the Gerudo from Ganondorf, and she played songs from her memory, too. Ranalla knew she would never play as well as Sirla, but she was content. Ganondorf had accompanied her a few times with the organ when she practiced, and she wanted to try to play together with Rista and Laira on her next visit to the Fortress.

While she was playing music with Ganondorf, Ranalla realized that the music had a very special influence on her pregnant body. When she was sitting outside on the steps of the entrance playing the ocarina, the sounds dug into her mind and brought her into a trance-like state that completely relaxed her. She could lose herself in the melody and forget everything around her. However, when she played with Ganondorf, the music – especially the accompanied, polyphonic music – seemed like a kind of amplifier of her need for love. After a short time in the room with the organ, she was so excited that she put aside the ocarina, sent a barrier to the door with her magic, and climbed onto Ganondorf's lap. She kissed him and he answered her kiss surprised.

 _"Andryl mi, mil Adnar,"_ she said.

He wanted to go to the pavilion, but she shook her head, and he obeyed. He was so tall and so strong that he could easily support her hips all the time, and Ranalla dug her fingers into the muscles of his shoulders as she took him inside her with bated breath.

.

Ganondorf seemed to feel the same as Ranalla. In addition to the straight sword, he had given her a scimitar, and they fought with two swords while he taught her to use the smaller of the two swords as a kind of substitute for a shield. With two swords, she was able to parry and attack at the same time, and she learned feints, deceptive maneuvers, and movements that could quickly disarm or bring down her opponent. Sometimes they sparred at night on the roof of the Temple to increase the difficulty level, and often Ganondorf simply slammed her weapons out of her hands with his huge swords, threw his swords to the ground, and snatched up Ranalla to kiss her. They had tried the rocky ground on the roof once, but they preferred to run into the forest for the next few times, throwing themselves together in the grass until they lay panting in a twitching tangle of arms, legs, and hair.

On that day, too, they had even suddenly left the lunch table and run up into the forest, prompting Nabooru to shake her head. They had surrounded each other with their magic and pressed themselves to one another so tightly that they could barely breathe. It was as if their magic had interlocked and bound them to each other. When it was over, they both lay in the grass and looked at the sky with astonishment. Ganondorf found her hand and intertwined his fingers with hers.

"I'm a little sore," she said.

"Will you take a break, Madam?"

She turned her head to him and shook her head smiling.

"Shall I heal you?"

She nodded.

He straightened and sat behind her, then pulled her to him until she lay on his arm. His hand found her core and she felt two of his fingers enter her body, while his thumb remained outside and made slow, circling movements. The warmth of his magic lay inside on the soft walls and healed the stinging irritation, as he drank the fervent sighs from her lips.

3

In the afternoon, they rode to the Fortress again, for Ganondorf had determined that she should learn to shoot with the bow from Druja's back. She had practiced so much shooting from a standing position that even Nabooru was thrilled by her progress. By now, Ranalla had mastered riding at all paces, and she had even learned to control Druja completely without reins. Ganondorf had also taught her to ride without a saddle, so she was now able to communicate with Druja without any additional assistance. Ranalla could signal her just with her muscles, her body tension, and her posture, and she enjoyed being connected with Druja in this way.

When they reached the Fortress, the sun was already low in the sky. The year was ending, and only a week remained until the end of the ultimatum. With the advanced season, the days were very short, although the weather in the desert was still warm. Ranalla knew that there probably was snow on the Hyrule Field, but in the warm climate that prevailed in this particular part of the world, nothing could be felt of winter except for the shorter days.

They left the guards at the gate and rode past the Fortress to the exercise site. Ranalla took her bow and the quiver from Druja's saddle and put on the glove that protected her fingers from the firm bow string. Several Sisters were on the exercise field. In a slow gallop, they rode past the targets in a circle and shot with their bows.

One of the Sisters was Sirla. She rode on a brown mare and shot the arrows one by one at the targets with confident fingers. Ranalla watched her and was thrilled. She waited until Sirla finished her turn and came to the starting point. Sirla rode slowly around her and Ganondorf, then she stood behind them, gesturing to Ranalla to begin.

"Start slowly, Madam," said Ganondorf. "First, ride at a walking pace past the targets and try to hit them. Stay calm in the saddle and hold your body straight."

Ranalla nodded, then she directed Druja to the marked path on the sandy ground. Out of the twenty targets, she hit three. She knew she probably would have hit more if Sirla had not watched her. But she pressed her lips together resolutely and began a new round. This time she was calmer and hit six targets.

Ganondorf nodded as she came back to him.

"Very well, Madam," he said. "Now, try at a trot. Repeat the round until you hit six targets per turn."

She had to collect her arrows first, so she rode once with Druja and brought back her arrows with her magic. Sirla's arrows were also among them, and Ranalla took them out of the bundle and handed them back to Sirla, who took them without blinking an eye and put them in her quiver.

Ranalla let Druja trot for a round and shot at the targets. She hit two. Now she did not mind anymore that Sirla was watching, and she hit three targets at the next round. From her training with Ganondorf she was used to not complaining and trying again and again. Twenty times she had to ride at a trot until she hit the required amount of six targets. Ganondorf nodded contentedly and returned her arrows.

The sun was low on the horizon and the light was no longer sufficient to continue shooting.

"Tomorrow we will continue," said Ganondorf while he rode back to the gate with Ranalla. Two Sisters came to take care of their horses as they descended.

At dinner, Ranalla noticed that her favorite leaves were missing on the plate with the prepared vegetables. There were others, but she missed the leaves badly. She guessed that one of the guards who knew nothing about her predilection had chosen the food. She ate the vegetables and the eggs, but left the leaves. Ganondorf noticed and asked:

"Don't you want to eat the leaves today, Madam?"

"No, Your Majesty," she said shortly.

"Why not, Madam?"

"There are no Liri leaves, Your Majesty."

"But there are others."

"I just want Liri leaves, Your Majesty. I will eat some when we're back in the Temple."

For a moment, Ganondorf looked at her with serious eyes.

"We'll be back here tomorrow morning, Madam. Perhaps you should tell Risha of your predilection so she can take the right leaves for you."

Ranalla nodded. "I will do that, Your Majesty."

Her heart pounded violently and she tried to find a clue in Ganondorf's face as to whether he had a suspicion. He continued eating and looked thoughtfully at her from time to time.

 _Just let him know it!_

She just wanted the Liri leaves.

4

After dinner, Ganondorf went back to the exercise field to spar with his guards, and Ranalla went out into the courtyard and looked for Rista and Laira. Just like the last time, they were sitting on the bench near the torch and were playing on their guitars. Sirla was sitting opposite them, and Ranalla knew Sirla was waiting for her.

Slowly, she approached the Sisters, and she came just in time for the end of the piece that Rista and Laira were playing.

"Greet the face of the moon, Sister Ranalla," said Rista, smiling.

"You too," said Ranalla, addressing all three. "May I play with you?"

From the corner of her eye, she saw Sirla throwing an astonished look at her from the bench.

"What do you want to play?" Laira asked.

Ranalla sat down on the bench next to Sirla and took the ocarina out of the pocket on her belt.

 _"The Longing of the Ren-Bird."_

The two Sisters with the guitars smiled, and Ranalla felt Sirla's gaze from the side.

"You can play it?" she asked with amazement.

Ranalla nodded. "I can also play other songs. _The Love of the Rose,_ or _Night in the Desert._ I have also practiced some of the songs of my people."

"Then we'll play," said Rista. "Do you remember when to start?"

Ranalla nodded and put the ocarina to her lips. The Sisters began with the introduction, and then Ranalla played the song of the Ren-Bird. She had noticed that Sirla had linked some tones on the ocarina and played short ornaments in other places, giving the melody a gentle yet varied flow, and she tried to imitate this technique. She played the song once with the guitars and managed to come to the end without a mistake. When they had finished, Ranalla turned to Sirla.

"How often did you practice, Sheikah?" Sirla asked.

"Every day for about two hours at a time, and in addition in every free moment."

"You can keep the ocarina for another week, then I'll take it back," Sirla said. She got up and went away without looking back.

One week.

When the ultimatum expired.

Ganondorf had told her that they would come to the Fortress every day until she managed to hit all the targets at a gallop. It would definitely take at least a week, rather longer, Ranalla had estimated.

She played for a long time with the guitars, and when she had played her entire repertoire with the ocarina, she sang with them. The music caressed her and she felt the little hairs on her body rise as delicate shudders ran over her skin. The magic of the Treasure stirred gently in her, giving her a glimpse of the feeling she remembered from the union with Ganondorf's magic. That special place of her body became warm and opened, and she could no longer concentrate. Smiling, she said good-bye and took the path to the exercise field. After a few steps, she began to run, and thought feverishly where she could be alone with Ganondorf. Under the waterfall? Or rather in his room in the Fortress? They would have to block the entrance with a barrier...

When she entered the exercise field, she stopped as if rooted. In the middle of the arena was Ganondorf, and he was fighting alone against Sirla. The four guards were standing aside, watching.

Ranalla blinked and swallowed. She took a few steps toward Ganondorf, but Risha came to her and held her.

"Quiet, Sister," she said. "It's just a sparring fight. He'll defeat her, don't worry."

"Who..." breathed Ranalla. She did not dare to utter the question.

"She challenged him," Risha said.

Ranalla stepped back to the edge of the arena and watched the two figures fighting in the light of the torches. Other than with herself and his guards, she had already seen Ganondorf fight with other Sisters, and she saw his calm, concentrated expression and the appraising looks he sent to Sirla. He did not attack her but kept merely warding her off. Sirla, on the other hand, had a greedy, wild look in her eyes. She had the smaller one of Ganondorf's swords and held it with both hands. Again and again she threw herself at him.

After a while, Ranalla realized that Sirla was fighting without a strategy. She was not about winning or practicing, but she only wanted to let her anger out. Ranalla could not tell whether Sirla's rage was directed against her or Ganondorf, but with the way Sirla fought, she would soon be defeated by Ganondorf. When she jumped at him with a vertical blow, he parried effortlessly, and Ranalla looked astonished as he moved to the side and wrapped his arm around Sirla's two arms, twisting them along with the sword. Sirla screamed in pain and dropped the sword. Ganondorf clasped her arms and threw his sword to the ground. He pulled Sirla close to him and looked at her with narrowed eyes.

 _"Nest malrijes, Sirla?"_ Ranalla heard him ask with a stern voice, and immediately her mind translated the words.

 _"What do you want, Sirla?"_

 _"Va, ri-su ruad!"_ Sirla replied defiantly, tearing her arms out of his grasp.

 _"You, my King!"_

She turned and stomped toward Ranalla. With narrowed eyes and raised chin, she stopped before her. She was taller than Ranalla, and her golden eyes flashed with pride. In a low voice she hissed at Ranalla:

 _"Surin lastinen, elt ri-su sijet, Sheikah!"_

Ranalla shuddered, and fear crawled into her mind. Sirla snorted and walked away, as she always did. Ranalla closed her eyes and swallowed the tears. Ganondorf picked up his swords and put them in the sheaths on his back. He came to her and embraced her. Wistfully, Ranalla remembered the reason why she had actually wanted to come to him.

Where was Rauru? What should she do? She must not lose Ganondorf!

Sirla's words sounded painfully in her ear as she felt Ganondorf's lips search for hers.

 _"Seven suns, then he is mine, Sheikah!"_


	20. Chapter 20

A/N: I want to thank the readers from all over the world who have read up to here.  
Enjoy!

 **Chapter 20**

1

 _Warm fingers reached for her magic and stroked through it like a living comb. Her magic became smooth and soft, and she longed for the next stroke. She stretched out to the warm fingers and interlaced herself with them. Then she drew the fingers into herself and let them dissolve inside her._

 _She wanted more._

 _More fingers came to her..._

.

She jumped and opened her eyes.

It was dark.

Underneath her neck was his arm, and his chest was snuggled to her back. His hand formed a warm shell for her breast that had grown heavier in the last couple of days. His other arm was on her hip, and his fingers had become buried in her soft interior during his sleep. She felt his warm, calm breath on her hair, and her pelvic base contracted with a shiver.

Why had she awoken?

They had made love, like every night, and Ranalla had furtively looked at her belly again and again, to see if one could see the bulge already. Her nipples were tender and hurt when they rubbed against the firm muscles of Ganondorf's chest. Even during the day, the tunic was rubbing unpleasantly against them, and Ranalla had wondered if she should ask Nabooru for a tunic with a wider cut. The waistband of her pants lay still loosely on her hips, but that too would change soon...

From her position in Ganondorf's embrace, Ranalla let her gaze wander over the dark garden. Something was different from usual, but she did not have any idea what it was. The evening before, Ganondorf had cleared all the light orbs and they had made love in the silver light of the moon, which had been nearly full. It had been so bright that Ranalla had been able to distinguish every single red hair that fell on her face while she clutched him with her legs. She closed her eyes as her muscles tightened with another shudder at the memory.

 _The moon..._

She opened her eyes and looked at the dark sky. Not a single star could be seen, and the moon had also disappeared. Since Ranalla had come into the desert she had not experienced anything like that. The stars could always be seen, and sometimes the moon, but now the sky was empty. She closed her eyes again and thought.

Clouds.

There were clouds in the sky. This was unusual, but as the silent darkness enveloped her, sleep returned to her.

Ganondorf stirred, and his fingers touched that special point of her body. She pressed her legs together, and his fingers responded by tensing and penetrating even deeper.

How should she sleep like that?

He drew her closer to him in his sleep, and again his fingers pressed there.

Should she wake him up?

As gently as she could, she sent her magic to him. She softly pounded at his sleeping magic, and she heard him sigh with pleasure at her ear. She stroked him with her magic and felt his magic bump against hers in tiny waves. But it was still asleep, for the waves were only the echo of Ranalla's own impulses. She dared to let her magic gently penetrate his, just like the warm fingers had done in her dream...

Her eyes flew open.

 _In her dream!_

That was why she had awoken!

Warm fingers had reached out for her magic and had stroked through it like a living comb. Ranalla shuddered as she remembered two things at the same time. She remembered the dream and the feeling she had felt. It had been exactly the same as the feeling when she was absorbing Ganondorf's magic, whenever he had given it to her.

She could not turn around. He held her body in a loving clasp, and each of her movements pushed his fingers even deeper into her.

"Your... Maj..." she stammered.

He groaned softly, inhaling deeply. The muscles of his arms tightened and relaxed again. He slept on.

"Your Majesty," she called softly.

He jerked slightly, and Ranalla whimpered as he pulled his fingers back a little, but then they explored where they were. When they had understood, a whirl came from them, and Ranalla gasped. The muscles of his arms tightened and turned her to him. He searched for her lips with his eyes closed, and when he found them, he leaned on his elbows and found the place where his fingers had been before.

His magic drifted to her drowsily, looking for hers, and again Ranalla felt the warm fingers coming to her.

Had it been his magic? But he had been sleeping...

"Your Majesty..." she said under his lips.

"Yes... Madam..."

"Are... you... awake..."

She had spoken to the rhythm of his movements, because everything in her wanted to follow this rhythm now.

"No."

The fingers searched for her magic and clawed into it, and whenever they touched her magic, Ranalla felt the gentle, sweet pain that she had felt then.

"Have you given me some of your magic?"

He paused and opened his eyes.

 _He should not stop. He should continue..._

"I do not think so," he said. Then he closed his eyes again, withdrew briefly, and pushed himself into her again. "Why do you ask?" he asked with another thrust.

"Because ..." Ranalla tried to say, but it was difficult to form the words. "... it... feels... like... that..."

"Can... can we continue this discussion later?" he asked breathlessly, his voice failing.

"Yes, Your Majesty," said Ranalla, smiling. She raised her face to him and pulled him down with a kiss. She would simply enjoy the feeling and try to figure out afterwards where it came from.

2

"Your Majesty!"

He jerked, and stiffened the arm that was holding her.

"What..."

"Your Majesty, listen to me!"

"Do you want it again?"

"Uh..."

He opened his eyes and smiled.

"I am listening, Madam. But I do not know if I will remember tomorrow morning what you said. Will you tell me maybe tomorrow? Or do you want me to..."

She put her hand on his lips and felt him kiss it with his lips and his tongue.

"Your Majesty, it is important!"

She took her hand from his mouth and wanted to pull it back, but with a quick movement, he seized her hand with his other hand, straightened up and tied her body on the bed. Then his face came down to her and he kissed her, full of greed. His magic wrapped around her body and the fingers trailed through her magic like firm snakes.

Frightened, he broke away from her.

"What was that?" he asked, puzzled. "What did you do?"

"I did not do anything, Your Majesty. You did something. It felt like you were giving your magic to me."

"But I did not," he said, blinking. He kissed her again, and the fingers immersed into her magic and pulled at it, interlacing and mingling with it. She felt Ganondorf's body on hers shudder. He slowly broke away from her lips and looked at her in amazement.

"Are you sure you have not done anything, Madam?"

"Yes, Your Majesty. I have not sent my magic to you. It has gone by itself."

"That's amazing!" he said. "May I try again?"

She raised her face to his, and the fingers pressed and begged. She did not know exactly what they wanted, but the feeling grew stronger the longer the kiss lasted. The pain increased, and Ranalla had the impression that something was biting her magic. First, the bite was very soft, but then she felt as if the teeth were tensing, and the pain was no longer delicate, but it hurt.

When she thought she could no longer bear it, Ganondorf gasped from her lips and fell beside her on the bed.

"What is that?" he asked in astonishment. "Did you feel that too, Madam? The pain?" He turned his face to her, and Ranalla nodded.

"I always felt it when you had sent me your magic and it joined mine, Your Majesty. But not as intensely as this time."

"It must have something to do with the Gift. I would like to try something else, Madam. Try to hold your magic back when I kiss you."

He came back to her and kissed her, and Ranalla tried to build up her mental barrier. But she could not. Her magic always flowed past the bars of the barrier, or over them to Ganondorf. As she touched his magic, it slowly stroked her, then the fingers came out of it and seized the fibers of her magic.

Ganondorf broke away from her.

"I cannot block my magic, Madam."

"Me neither, Your Majesty," she said.

He took a deep breath.

"It may be a new stage. I'll look it up in Andyr Kendrice's book in the morning. Maybe he has described this phenomenon. By the way, why did you wake me up?"

Ranalla was confused. She did not remember. The sky was dark, and she had remembered the dream, but actually it had been because of his fingers that had been so deep inside her that she could not sleep anymore.

"Because..."

She would be tired out in the morning, and she would not hit even a single target, and Sirla would show her two fingers, which was the number of days that remained to Ranalla to get pregnant.

3

The tight tunic was stretching over her large, firm breasts, and she thought he must surely notice it. At the door to Ganondorf's living room, they met Nabooru, who had just served breakfast on the table.

"Good morning, Madam Ranalla," she said, after she had nodded to Ganondorf. "Will you please show me which leaves I should bring you?" she grabbed Ranalla's hand and pulled her with her.

"The Liri..." stammered Ranalla, looking at Ganondorf helplessly. Nabooru, however, did not let go, and Ganondorf shrugged and went through the door.

When they were in the kitchen, Nabooru closed the door, which otherwise was always open.

"Build a barrier at the door, Madam," she said to Ranalla.

"But why?" Ranalla asked, aghast.

"Because what we discuss here is not intended for the ears of others. Make the barrier soundproof."

Ranalla called her magic and built a soundproof barrier on the door with the new skills she had learned from Ganondorf. Nabooru went to a cupboard where the crockery was kept, and brought out two garments.

"I have here two tunics that I usually wear when I'm in Hyrule Castle Town, Madam. Ganondorf does not know them. Tell him I gave them to you because they do not fit me. But for the trousers we will have to come up with something, I'm afraid."

"The trousers still fit..." Ranalla said, but she broke off. Slowly she raised her gaze from the two tunics to Nabooru's face. In her ears rushed the blood of her racing heart, and she swallowed hard as terror crawled into her limbs. Her hands trembled and she felt her face become hot with shame. She closed her eyes and lowered her head, and the tears pressed in her throat. But she felt Nabooru's hands coming to her face.

 _"Rinnaj ri, strani Ranalla,"_ said Nabooru to her in Gerudo.

Frightened, Ranalla opened her eyes.

"Your breasts have grown, and so has your desire for Ganondorf and the Liri leaves. You do not like the fermented milk anymore, and you always look to your belly. My dear brother Ganondorf is a tall, strong, beautiful man, but concerning these things, he is a child, my Sister. You must tell him, or he will consume himself with worry. He already believes that he has done something to you, hurt you somehow, so that you cannot conceive."

"How..." Ranalla stammered. Somehow, it felt good to have an ally.

"Ah," Nabooru waved her hand dismissively. "I am a woman and I am not blind like my brother. He makes love to you every day at least three times or even more, and by now, he should be able to trace your body in his sleep. I wonder what else must happen so that he finally notices. I think he wishes so badly that you get pregnant that he does not even think that you might be already. How far are you along, by the way?"

"Almost six months," said Ranalla.

 _"Six months!"_ cried Nabooru, and at that moment, Ranalla was glad she had built a barrier at the door. "But I can't see anything!"

"You will not see very much for a while. With the Sheikah, the child begins to grow during the last six months of pregnancy."

"But..." Nabooru's eyes narrowed. "Wait a moment. How long is the pregnancy?"

"Twelve months," said Ranalla.

"Oh," Nabooru said. "A whole year..." she shook her head. "The day after tomorrow, the ultimatum of the Sisters in the Fortress will expire. You must tell him by tomorrow night. If you do not, I will tell him."

4

Just after breakfast, Ranalla had put on one of the new tunics from Nabooru. It was wider and, unlike those that Ranalla had worn so far, it seemed to be cut specially for women. The darts formed a loose covering for her breasts, and the soft cloth no longer scraped at her sensitive nipples. She told Ganondorf what Nabooru had advised her to about the tunics, but she did not tell him anything about her pregnancy.

After breakfast, they rode under the gloomy sky to the Fortress to continue the training in archery from Druja's back. Huge clouds were towering in the sky, and the air was unusually damp and heavy. She had asked Ganondorf, and he had told her that it was the result of the weather in the Hyrule Field. "There it is winter now," he had said, "and the cold air flows over the rock into the desert and pushes the warm air upwards. We often have this kind of weather at the end of the year when the winter solstice has passed. It will not last long. Tonight there will probably be a thunderstorm."

"Will it rain?" Ranalla had asked.

"Yes, I think so, Madam. Sometimes we even have to open the passage of the basin of the spring so that the forest is not flooded."

When they arrived on their horses at the exercise area behind the Fortress, Sirla was already waiting for them. Every day, she stayed there for the first hour and watched as Ranalla struggled to hit the targets. Ranalla was glad that she had put on the new tunic from Nabooru, where her enlarged breasts were not so noticeable.

"Greet the face of the sun, Sirla," she said kindly.

"You, too," Sirla said with a smile that was rather gleeful than friendly. She nodded to Ganondorf, her eyes flashing with desire.

Ranalla felt the thorn of jealousy in her chest. She wondered what Sirla thought. How did she want to force Ganondorf to give her a daughter? Did she want to fight against him again? He would defeat her, for he was superior to her in every respect.

With a deep breath, she took her bow from the saddle. She already had the quiver on her back, and she pulled out an arrow before she tensed the muscles in her thighs. Druja ran past the targets on her familiar route, and Ranalla shot her arrow. Quickly, she took out the next one and shot again.

In the last couple of days, she had increased her hit rate to ten targets out of twenty, but of course, it was not enough. It was much harder for her to shoot from Druja's back. Ganondorf had ridden the route a couple of times and had hit every single target. He shot with a calmness and self-assurance that Ranalla envied, and she asked him how long he had practiced.

"Three years, Madam," he replied. "But I was lazy, because I liked fighting with the sword more. You will manage in a much shorter time."

At noon, Ranalla was exhausted. She had hit twelve targets at the last round, and her muscles were aching. Her eyes were burning, and the tunic stuck to her body from the damp air. She had slept too little, she knew, and her pregnancy was taking its toll. If Ganondorf knew that she was pregnant, he would probably spare her, she thought. But since she did not know whether she could tell him, she wanted him to find out for himself. He would then perhaps reproach her, but she just could not tell him. In her mind, she had gone through many possible scenarios of how to reveal herself to him, but she was not content with anything.

 _Your Majesty, I have been pregnant for six months. I did not tell you because..._

Well, why not?

She could not do it!

"Do you want to wash?" Ganondorf asked beside her and interrupted her thoughts. Ranalla looked at him, confused. "We could bathe in the ravine, if you want. You can dry your clothes with your magic afterwards. Or would you rather go to the Fortress?

"Ravine," said Ranalla. She had never been in the ravine in daylight, and she was looking forward to immersing herself into the cool water. Ganondorf drove his horse through the detour into the hollow path to the ravine, and Ranalla followed him. In the hollow path, he stayed behind and rode beside her. She felt his hand on her back, and his magic came to her.

"Are you all right, Madam?" he asked with concern.

"Yes, Your Majesty," said Ranalla. "I'm just tired. Do you think I could have a midday nap somewhere? In the niche, perhaps, when we have bathed?"

She was tired, and his magic felt warm and soft, it caressed her, wrapped her like a warm blanket. She tried to send her magic to him, but to her surprise, she realized that her magic had long been with him. She was hungry, too...

They left the horses beside the edge, and together they jumped down onto the narrow platform. From there, Ranalla jumped into the water in her clothes and swam under the waterfall. She climbed the ladder to the niche and waited in front of the barrier for Ganondorf. Taking off her wet clothes, she dried them, and herself, with her magic. Ganondorf came up and opened the barrier. He was already dry, and picked up Ranalla in his arms and brought her to the bed. There he laid her down and kissed her tenderly.

"Do not let Sirla annoy you, Madam," he said softly. "She cannot force me. No one can."

Ranalla nodded and closed her eyes.

"Sleep, Madam," he said. "I will stay with you until you wake up. Afterwards, we will ride back to the Temple, because I want to fight on the roof tonight, and you must be well rested."

Did he never give her a break?

Shouldn't there be a thunderstorm?

But she had already fallen asleep.


	21. Chapter 21

A/N: All right, this is Chapter 21 for you. It took me a little longer because I wanted to make sure that everything is as accurate as possible, as this is the longest chapter we had up to now, and one of my favorite chapters.

There are some phrases in Sheikah in this chapter, and I will append the translation at the end of the chapter, so you may look them up quickly.

And now I hope that you will find this chapter as exiting as it was for me to write it.  
Enjoy!

 **Chapter 21**

1

 _Her magic broke from her and went to him. She wanted to hold it back, but she could not. Her magic slipped through her fingers like the fine sand of the desert, for it wanted to go to him, to his magic. At the same time, she felt his magic coming to her. It brought back a piece of her magic, which returned into Ranalla's body like a familiar layer. But it was different. It was her magic, but oddly, it was familiar and new at the same time; it was wild and powerful, but then again, gentle and comforting; it was soothing, caressing, caring, loving, but also exciting, seductive, greedy, and full of longing..._

"Madam, wake up!"

Ranalla gave a jerk and sat upright in bed instantly. A warm hand was on her stomach, and when she looked there, she saw that it was her own hand. Frightened, she pulled it away. With wide eyes, she stared around and found other, golden eyes that were glowing in the darkness. Where was she, and why was it dark?

Another hand, warm and familiar, stroked her hair, and the memory seeped into her consciousness like a fine trickle of images and sounds. She was in the niche under the waterfall, and something had happened with her magic.

Where was her magic?

She let her senses search for it and found it clinging firmly to his magic.

 _"Mil..."_

She struggled to speak. Her tongue was so heavy, and she was thirsty. His hands were still stroking her.

 _"Mil Tria..."_ she managed to say in a hoarse voice. Was she still dreaming? Why was this so difficult? She swallowed, but her throat felt like sand.

 _"Mil Tria... wi drit."_

"Yes, Madam," he said gently. "You sent it to me in your sleep."

 _"Padri mi raurili rivendriti?"_

"You became restless, Madam. I thought you had a nightmare."

No, it had not been a nightmare. She had seen what had happened, she had felt it...

Two parts of herself met and mingled, and finally, reality was sound again.

She grabbed his shoulders. He was there, it was not a dream.

"Your Majesty!"

"Yes, Madam. Are you all right?"

It was dark, but for some reason she could see his face clearly. His eyes were shining, and she noticed an exuberant, pulsating joy in his face.

"Did you give me your magic?" she asked.

"No, Madam. Your magic came to me while you were asleep."

"What did you do with your magic?"

"At first I tried to send yours back to you, but it did not want to leave me. It stayed with me, and when I tried to exert pressure, you became agitated. I woke you, for I was worried."

Ranalla looked for her magic. It was still with him. She tried to pull it back, and it came, but it left him only reluctantly.

"Kiss me, Your Majesty," she said determinedly. She had to know.

His shining eyes came closer, and she closed her eyes. His hands came to her face.

They were so warm!

The warmth entered her body and called for her magic. His lips touched her gently, and a shudder hit her like a violent blow. The fingers were back, and dug into her magic. It was the warmth from his hands, the warmth that was flowing from his lips to her, and from every point where he was touching her. She pulled him to herself and kissed him fiercely, and the searing fingers dug even deeper into her magic. The pain, which had been there all along, pierced her consciousness, and it hurt; but in a peculiar way, she knew she had to go on. Something was there at the end of that pain, something precious, that she absolutely needed to have...

But it hurt so much!

Suddenly, Ganondorf broke away from her, gasping. She screamed and wanted to hold him tight, and her fingers clawed into the muscles of his arms.

"Please..." she whimpered.

"Madam," he said tenderly. "First, I want to know what this is. I do not understand. My magic is behaving unusually. I cannot control it when I kiss you. I want to make love to you, but I'm afraid that I hurt you. Come, we will ride to the Temple."

"I'm hungry..."

"We will eat before, Madam. You had no lunch, and you were so exhausted that you slept all afternoon. I wanted to stay with you, but in the meantime, I had to go to take care of the horses, and I left our clothes on the ledge."

He took her hand and opened the barrier in front of the entrance. They went to the edge of the niche, and then the barrier was back. He climbed down first and she followed him into the water. They swam to the narrow ledge on the wall and jumped up. Their clothes were there and were dry. Ranalla dressed, and when they were both finished, they jumped hand in hand to the edge of the ravine. Ranalla was so hungry that she tugged at Ganondorf's hand to push him. He ran with her through the hollow path to the Fortress and then through the corridor into the dining room. It was dinner time and the four guards were waiting for them at their table.

"I just want Liri leaves and fruit," Ranalla said to Risha. "Many leaves, please."

Risha nodded obediently and went to the kitchen with the other guards. When they brought the food, Ranalla rushed to the leaves, pears, and peaches. Ganondorf watched her, smiling, while she ravenously ate the leaves and fruit on her plate. When she had eaten her serving, she looked greedily at his plate, and he pushed it to her with a smile. At the edge of her consciousness, she wondered what this knowing expression meant, but then the taste of the sweet, soft fruit caressed her tongue, and she forgot the question. Ganondorf cast a questioning look at Risha, but she shook her head.

"We were expecting to go back to the Temple after lunch, Your Majesty," she said softly.

"It's all right, Risha," said Ganondorf. "We can leave at once."

Ranalla emptied his plate too, and she felt better. She looked at Ganondorf and contemplated his figure as he gazed at her with a reverent expression. With overwhelming clarity she perceived his beautiful face, his sensual lips, his high cheekbones, his strong jaws, and his clear golden eyes. His long, red hair fell over his shoulders, and through the opening of his vest she saw the muscles on his chest. All the noises around her fell silent, and the sight of him acted upon her like a beguiling, intoxicating potion. The memory of last night entered her consciousness, of when he had made love to her after their brief conversation, until the bright streaks of the morning had appeared behind the trees of the forest. She could think of nothing more than his lips, and what was hiding under his clothes.

In her desire, however, a different feeling reached her from a certain direction. It was the same desire she felt herself, but it did not come from her. Slowly, she turned around and looked for the source of the feeling in the room. Just behind her, two tables away, Sirla sat, and her beautiful eyes were directed full of longing and greed at Ganondorf. When Ranalla's eyes found her, Sirla's eyes turned to her, and Ranalla saw her raise two fingers with a grim smile.

2

On the horizon, a bolt of lightning flashed across the sky and illuminated the mighty, dark clouds for a fraction of an instant. The guards had ridden ahead and Ganondorf rode on Sardun behind Ranalla. It was only with difficulty that she had torn her gaze off him as he had led her out of the dining room. This time, it had been he again who was pulling her through the broad torch-lit corridors of the Fortress, and she had walked, staggering and wavering at his side, across the courtyard to the horses. He had placed his hands around her waist and put her on her horse because she had just been standing in front of him, staring at him with dreamy eyes. His embarrassed smile had made her mad with desire, and when she had settled on her horse, she had bent to him and kissed him. Every time she had touched his burning skin, her magic had trembled and broken through her body like an unbridled river bursting its banks. Ganondorf had also seemed to feel it, for she had felt him shiver again and again.

At last, she had let him go, and he had mounted his horse, and now he rode by her side through the gateway to the Wasteland. They had to follow the mark one after the other, and Ranalla missed his touch, and was full of painful longing. In the valley of the Temple, he came to her side and took her hand to guide her through the barrier. Small, blue whirls she could not control broke loose from her hand. They wound around Ganondorf's fingers, and he giggled. Ranalla gave him a greedy look, which he returned with a mischievous smile.

They left the horses to the guards, and Ranalla grabbed his hand with a beating heart and wanted to go straight up into the pavilion, but he pulled her into the living room. He went to the closet and took out their two swords. Ranalla did not care and pulled him further.

Why did he want to do so many things?

She wanted him, her magic craved for him, and her whole body trembled with desire. He had promised her...

As they passed through the double doors onto the dark platform on the roof, her patience broke. She would not wait a single moment longer! With a jerk, she stopped and pushed Ganondorf a step back to the wall. The torches from inside the Temple shone through the open doors, and he looked at her astonishingly as she ripped his swords out of his hands and threw them to the ground.

 _"Andryl mi, Lorin ill Deron,"_ she breathed, panting.

He kissed her tenderly, and Ranalla grabbed the cloth of his vest and pressed herself against him, but he broke away from her.

"I would like to read first, Madam. Please, I..."

 _"Andryl mi!"_ she growled angrily with her eyes wide. Her heart was racing and her jaw tightened. She could not bear it anymore. Her magic raged and reached for his with greedy fingers and clung to it. In a flowing motion, she picked up the smaller sword, drew it out of its sheath and slashed at Ganondorf. He grabbed her wrist and held it tight.

 _"ANDRYL MI!"_ she cried, snatching her hand from his grip. She jumped at him with all her might, but he ducked and reached for his sword. Ranalla hit him again, and he parried her blow. A flash of lightning lit his face for a moment as he drew back from her, and she saw his eyes, and his irises were completely dark. A deep roar followed the lightning, and Ranalla closed in on him.

She was so angry!

He had promised!

She _needed_ him now, she _must_ have him!

Again she attacked him, but he parried and withdrew further. He was slipping through her fingers, she could not reach him...

She tried to call her magic back from his. It did not want to come, and Ranalla dragged at it. The pain rushed through her body, as her magic sprang back from him to her like a stretched band, and Ranalla threw a blue-glowing energy ball to Ganondorf. He struck it back with his sword and Ranalla had to dodge it. The ball dissolved behind her, and she threw a new ball. Ganondorf hit it, and as the ball came back to her, she raised her sword to repel it. She met it and threw it back to Ganondorf. The ball went back and forth between them a few times, but then it came back from Ganondorf at a steep angle, and she could not ward it off. Too late she jumped aside, and the ball hit her with full force, and the hissing magic hurled her to the ground. She slid over the rough rock and the pain almost stunned her, but she heard Ganondorf's steps approaching. She got up in a hurry and ran away from him, then she threw another ball behind herself.

"Wait, Mad..." she heard him call, but his voice broke off as she suddenly stumbled into the void. She called her magic and slowed her fall as she flew down through the darkness illuminated by the flashes of lightning. The face of the giant statue stared threateningly as it slowly passed by, and the mighty stone hands seemed to reach out for Ranalla in the flickering brightness of the lightning bolts. Her heart pounding, she landed under the hollow rolls of thunder on the sandy ground and bent her knees to jump up again. But another flash of lightning revealed Ganondorf's figure, who landed a few steps away from her. She ran toward him and lunged out with her sword to hit him. He parried – and then he attacked her. But the hard training that he had imposed on her had done wonders for her muscles, and her strength had increased enormously. She could parry his blows effortlessly and attack him again. When the lightning lit up his face, she saw the expression in his dark eyes for a moment, and at the edge of her consciousness once again she recognized that it was pride.

Suddenly, a big water drop fell on her cheek, and she was startled. Involuntarily, she looked up, and another drop fell into her eye. She squinted and looked back at Ganondorf, but it was too late. He had used the moment of distraction to get closer, and again he seized the wrist of the hand that held her sword. She screamed in panic when she felt his hand, and struggled under his firm grip. He twisted her hand and she dropped her sword. Tears were in her eyes.

"Ah! Let me go!" she cried, full of pain and anger. "You wanted to fight!"

"It's enough, Madam," he said calmly, but so loudly that he drowned out the thunder.

"Let me go..." she sobbed, and her knees gave way.

"No, Madam. I will take you with me now."

 _No, no..._

With one last burst of strength, she tore her wrist out of his hand and ran angrily toward the embankment.

She wanted to _burn_ if she could not have him!

She heard his frustrated growl and a metallic clang as he threw his sword to the ground, then his quick steps sounded behind her. Five steps to the barrier, now just two...

He grabbed her arm and whipped her around to himself. She bounced against his body, and at that moment his magic was with her. With firm, relentless fingers, it reached for hers, which went to him willingly. Ranalla tried to hold it back, but she could not. Ganondorf wrapped his arms around her and clutched her so tightly that she could not move. Ranalla's entire body was trembling, and the longing for him was aching in her limbs. Her face was on his chest and she felt his fiery skin at her cheek. His smell was like fuel to the flames of her desire, and she clung to him with all the strength that she could muster. Huge drops of rain fell on her hair, and lightning flashed again and again. Loud thunder rumbled after each strike and made her jump.

 _"Andryl mi..."_ she begged.

Ganondorf's grip loosened, and he lifted her face to his. His lips parted to say something, but she got ahead of him.

"Please... Your Majesty..." she implored him. "I know now... what it is... please..."

He looked at her questioningly in the flickering light. His eyes were dark because his pupils were dilated over the entire iris, and she knew what that meant.

"What is it, Madam?" he asked, and the drops rushed down onto her face.

"Please... Your Majesty... kiss me... _now!"_

He swallowed. His face came closer, and Ranalla stretched her body to reach his lips. When he touched her, her body reared up, for her magic had been waiting in her lips. His lips were burning hot – and immediately the pain was back. Then he gave her his tongue, and the pain inside her grew. Something bit into her, and the bite became ever more violent, ever sharper and tearing. It hurt so much, it hurt so much!

Ranalla grabbed his head and held him tightly against her face, because she felt that despite the pain, she could not allow the connection to break again. For there, at the end of the pain, something was waiting for her, something she needed, something that had to be completed. The pain burned and cut itself into her body, and devoured her, consumed her, killed her...

And then...

Like a delicate light in a dark tunnel, she recognized what was waiting there in the distance. She had never experienced it, but her heritage contained a memory, a notion of the essence of her being. And at the moment when she could no longer bear the pain, Ranalla suddenly knew what to do. She felt Ganondorf's tongue in her mouth, so ardent, burning hot, and she sent her magic in a great stream to him through the connection. She gave him her magic and felt his body twitch and rear.

"Your Majesty, give me your magic! Give me as much as you can!" she cried through the streaming water on her face and the frenzied lightning around them. The next moment, she felt his lips and tongue again, and his magic, which he gave to her. It poured into her body like a wild fire that consumed everything on its way. It flowed into her and flooded her entire being, filling her with a furious power that crushed all her senses. She opened herself and sent the rest of her magic to the place where the alien fire was raging, and absorbed it. The feeling that she knew so well – and that she had missed do badly – overwhelmed her, and she felt Ganondorf's arms tighten around her, and he trembled.

"And now make love to me, Your Majesty!" she cried. A wind blast of her powerful, merged magic removed their clothes, and she felt the warm rain flowing over her naked body. His body was glowing hot to hers, and her skin was boiling with excitement and desire. Ganondorf's lips met hers, and as he touched her, a mighty feeling of fulfillment she had never known before spilled into her body. Her knees gave way and Ganondorf held her tight as they sank slowly down onto the wet sand. She parted her legs as he laid her on her back, then she felt him coming closer as he continued kissing her. The merged magic stirred inside her and reached out for his, and his kiss cut her mind off her body. She raised her body toward him and gasped as he widened her in that wonderful, familiar way, then she clasped her fingers into his arms and held onto them as his forceful thrust shook her body. He gasped loudly at her lips, then he bowed his head and trembled. Ranalla opened her eyes wide and looked into the sky above, from which the drops fell on their bodies. The next thrust made her close her eyes again, for the sensation overwhelmed her. He moved slowly, but it was just right, because time ran as slowly, and when Ranalla opened her eyes, she saw the rain drops floating in the air and slowly sinking to the ground. Around them, the lightning was flowing from the heavens as long, bright, branched vines that bound the roaring sky to the hungry earth, and the thunder followed as a mighty, dark rumble that made the world tremble. Another slow, wonderful thrust sent her thoughts into infinity, and she felt her merged magic pour out of her. It flowed upwards in thousands of blue rays, and from Ganondorf's glowing, luminous body more rays rose into the sky. The rays met up there above them, between the glittering raindrops, and twisted into swirls and spirals, circled and whirled around each other, connected and mingled, and gathered in an explosion of radiant blue light, whose shock wave shook the ground with a shattering thunder bang. A gentle light shimmering in blue waves sank over their intertwined bodies, and Ranalla cried as the light enveloped her, for her body trembled in a wave of joy and bliss of such great might that she thought her heart would stop. Into her ecstasy broke Ganondorf's final thrust, and he dug into her and reared up, and Ranalla pressed herself against him and felt him pouring into her like an unleashed volcano.

He closed his eyes and slowly sank to her. With infinite tenderness, he pushed his arms under her back, and Ranalla felt the wet sand caught between his hands and her skin. Ganondorf pressed her to himself, and she wrapped her arms around his neck. Above them was the shimmering, pulsating dome, and Ranalla felt the power of the blue light that invaded her body, strengthened and supported it, and gave her a mighty, immeasurable power that made her shudder with wonder.

3

After a long time, when their breath, their hearts, and the lightning had calmed down, they finally dared to move. He held her tightly to himself and turned with her on his back, as he liked to do so much. She laid her head on his chest and listened to the beat of his heart in her ear as he stroked her back gently and softly – for he had sand on his hands. The blue light had faded and had left a sweet, ringing tingle on Ranalla's skin, that grew stronger where Ganondorf's body touched hers, even in the place where her stretched tissue around him slowly relaxed and came to rest. The rain had stopped, but her hair was wet and full of sand and had mixed with the dark strands of Ganondorf's hair that were lying beside her on his chest. From somewhere the full moon came out, making the wet sand grains and the drops on the rocks glitter. Deep, calm breaths raised and lowered Ganondorf's chest, and she adapted to his breath to enjoy the unity with him that she had achieved in this cruel, miraculous dance.

"When exactly did you plan to tell me, Madam?"

She heard his voice, and at the same time she felt it with her skin vibrating from his chest at her ear. With infinite effort she drew her attention to his words. She knew what he meant, but it was so hard to speak...

She took a deep breath.

"Not at all... Your Majesty... I wanted you to find out for yourself."

She heard him snorting softly and felt his stomach twitch beneath her as he exhaled, trembling.

"Are you angry with me, Your Majesty?" she asked with an anxious heart.

"No, Madam." She felt the smile in his voice. "I just wish I had known earlier."

"When did you find out?"

"Right now, Madam. I did not know until you just told me."

Ranalla gasped.

"But..." she straightened up and looked at him. He was lying with wet hair in the sand, and smiled. In the light of the moon, he winked at her with a dark eye, then burst into laughter.

"Oh, you should see your face, Madam," he said, laughing.

"If you did not know, why did you ask?" she asked, puzzled.

He was still giggling. "It was a gamble. I guessed, of course, Madam. There were many small signs that I noticed, but I never looked at them on the whole until this afternoon when you were sleeping in the niche under the waterfall."

"Signs?" Ranalla repeated.

"Yes, Madam. You were more hungry, for example, and Nabooru had to bring you snacks during the training sessions. You suddenly liked the Liri leaves, although you did not like them before, I know for sure. You ate them, but they were not exactly your favorite dish. The Liri leaves contain large amounts of an element called calcium, Madam. The body of a woman who expects a child needs this substance because the child draws it out of her body.

"During your midday nap, I was watching you again for a long time, for I was not as tired as you, although I... did not sleep much last night. I watched you in your sleep and noticed two things – or three, to be exact. Firstly, your breasts have grown. They are full, and heavy, and sensitive. I covered you several times, but you did not want to have the covers on your chest. Secondly, almost the entire time of your sleep – and that was more than four hours – you kept your hand on your belly. You held it there in a loving, protective way. I lifted it gently three times and put it next to you, but after a few moments, it always came back to your belly.

"Thirdly – and this was what ultimately caused me to put together all the small parts of the riddle and draw my conclusion – your midday nap itself. Last night, you slept little – I'm afraid it was my fault – but I have never seen you so tired so early in the day. I would have liked to bring you something to eat and make love to you, but I felt that there was no point. Without giving you some of my magic, you would not have held out. I therefore decided to ask an innocent question and see what would happen."

"You tricked me, Your Majesty!"

"Yes, Madam, and I'm glad I did. May I ask how far along you are?"

"I received your cell the night the twin sisters kidnapped me, Your Majesty."

He counted in his mind.

"Six months, a few days more or less."

"Yes, Your Majesty," said Ranalla. "Are you happy?"

"Very much, Madam," he said tenderly, and gently pushed her to his chest where he stroked her wet, sandy hair. "I am so happy that I even forgot to ask what happened to us before. Will you explain it to me?"

"Yes, Your Majesty," she said. "But first... I would like to get rid of the wet sand. Do you think this is possible here, or do we have to go to the ravine for that?"

"No, Madam. There is something that can be done here. Come, I'll show it to you."

Ranalla rose from him, and he stood up and gathered their clothes and the swords. His back was full of sand and Ranalla helped him to shake off most of it. He took her hand and pulled her with him, and they both went naked into the Temple.

In the large entrance hall, Ganondorf went with Ranalla to the right into a passageway to another wing, and opened a door. They came into a dark room and Ganondorf closed the door behind them. Ranalla could not see anything at first, but then she saw several magical whirls break from Ganondorf's fingers and light five torches in five large niches in the walls. She was standing with Ganondorf on a platform in front of a huge, deep pit with stone walls. As Ranalla approached the edge, she saw still more niches with torches illuminating the flat bottom of the pit.

Ganondorf put the clothes and swords on the floor, then he went to the edge of the platform, bent his knees and jumped. Ranalla gasped, for she feared that he would fall down on the hard ground. But then she noticed with surprise that the torches seemed strangely upside down in the lower niches, and at that moment, she heard a loud splashing sound as Ganondorf broke through the smooth, motionless surface of the water and submerged. What Ranalla had seen down there had been the reflection of the ceiling and the niches with the torches, and she was so perplexed and shocked by the illusion that she just stood there, stunned. Then Ganondorf reappeared and rubbed his wet hair out of his face with his hands.

When he saw her expression, he laughed.

"Come in, Madam!" he called joyfully. "The water is cold, but we can warm it if you want."

He was in the water up to his chest, and Ranalla knew it would reach up to her neck. She jumped in, then dived under the cool water with a few swimming strokes and came back to the surface. Her hair was clean again and the sand from her body had also disappeared.

"What is this?" she asked in astonishment.

"It is our safety water storage," said Ganondorf. "And you can swim in it if you like." When he saw Ranalla's frown, he added, "This water is for the plants, Madam. We are storing the drinking water in another basin." He came to her and took her hand.

"There are steps in the water, Madam, and the water is shallower there. We can build a barrier and heat the water."

Ranalla went with him to a corner of the basin. The ground rose gently, and in the corner the water reached just to her chest, and to Ganondorf's waist. He built a circular barrier in the water and warmed it with his magic. Then he approached Ranalla and embraced her. He looked wonderingly at her eyes, which Ranalla knew were as dark as his.

"Will you tell me, Madam?" he asked softly. "What happened with us out there? You seemed to know what was going on, and I trusted you, although I did not understand."

Ranalla took a deep breath and looked up at him. She thought for a moment about how she could explain to him.

"It's easier to show you, Your Majesty," she said. Then she closed her eyes and opened her lips for him. She heard him laugh softly, then she felt his lips. The moment he touched her, a powerful, blissful shudder went through her body. But she felt the shudder in his body as well, just like his wonder, while he pressed his lips on hers and his tongue came to her. He kissed her feverishly, and the feeling swelled like a rushing stream on the way to the sea, until it found its climax in an explosion of joy and delight, and slowly ebbed away. As the feeling inside her faded, Ganondorf broke away from her lips and looked at her in amazement. He thought for a moment, then he kissed Ranalla again, and the feeling came again. She whimpered with desire under his lips and clung to him as her body opened again for him. He broke away from her and pulled her into another tight embrace.

"What you feel, Your Majesty," she said with a trembling voice, "and I, of course, too – is what we Sheikah simply call the _Feeling._ It occurs only in magically gifted couples who have accomplished the _Bonding."_

"The _Bonding?"_ Ganondorf repeated. "Is that what happened to us?"

"Yes, Your Majesty," said Ranalla, nodding.

"But how did you know what you had to do, Madam? Since that day when you refused to return my magic, I was so afraid to transfer it to you that I would never have come to this idea by myself. Have you ever experienced this before?"

"No, Your Majesty. A magically gifted couple can experience it only once, because afterwards the two partners are bound to each other for the remainder of their lives."

Ganondorf frowned.

"Bound, Madam? What does that mean?"

Ranalla swallowed and took another deep breath. It was hard, but she had to tell him.

"Our magic has merged, Your Majesty. The two magical fields that surrounded us have united and mixed. We can still access our magic, but it is now a mixture of the two partial magics that were there before. It is a very powerful union, Your Majesty, for the mixed magic is much stronger than the two magics alone were. For us both, Your Majesty, it means that we will love each other until the end of our lives. We will grow old together and... when the time comes, die together. For, just like our magic, our life force has also merged. It has been divided equally between us. For you, it means that your life expectancy has increased by about half of my remaining life expectancy, and for me, that I have lost this part of my days."

4

Ganondorf's eyes, with his huge pupils, widened as he heard Ranalla's words.

"Oh, Madam!" he shouted softly and pressed her tightly to him. "If I had known that! I'm so..."

But Ranalla quickly put her hand on his lips, and he fell silent.

"Please, Your Majesty, don't!" she said, and tears entered her eyes. "What happened to us is the highest perfection that is possible for the love of a magically gifted couple, and every member of my people – _every one_ – wants nothing more in the world than to experience this. It does not happen to all couples, you must know. In... my time, our scientists were researching this phenomenon, but..."

She broke off, for the memory of the end of the community was too painful. Ganondorf stroked her cheek and waited curiously for her explanation.

"Please, Madam, continue," he said.

"We were living under a powerful barrier, Your Majesty. Some of us suspected that the barrier was hindering the development of the _Affection."_

"Affection?" he asked.

She felt that Ganondorf wanted to have further explanations and looked to the corner of the basin where the steps were. Ganondorf noticed her gaze and pulled her to a place where they could sit in the warmed water on the steps and lean on something. Ganondorf settled down on one of the steps and pulled her to him. She sat down on his lap, facing him, and let him put his arms around her. She was aware that this position would not allow a long conversation, but this way it was the most comfortable for her.

"The _Affection_ ," she began, "denotes a series of symptoms that occur in a magically gifted couple before the _Bonding_ is performed. Not all symptoms occur always, but most of them. With the two of us, the _Affection_ manifested itself, among other things, in the unusual behavior of our magic. It went from one partner to the other independently in our sleep, and we felt the pain when we kissed. Within me, a wild desire for you arose, and I became angry because you still wanted to fight and read the book. Your body warmed so much that it glowed, and already in the niche under the waterfall, I could clearly see your face in the dark, because it shone from within. With both of us, the pupils dilated over the entire iris..." – here, Ganondorf looked into her eyes and nodded– "...and already for some time, I have been able to feel your... climax in my body when we made love. I was able to receive Sirla's feelings tonight in the dining room, and you were able to unconsciously receive fragments of my thoughts and memories from me. You knew, for example, quite a while ago, how the love confession of the Sheikah was pronounced, although I had never told you about its particularities."

"Since when did you know this, Madam?" Ganondorf asked. While she was sitting on him, she was at just the right height to kiss him comfortably, and his lips being before her had an irresistible effect on her. She closed her eyes to answer his question.

"I did not know, Your Majesty," she said. "Just like you noticed the individual symptoms of my pregnancy, I perceived the symptoms of the _Affection,_ but only tonight, out there, when I saw your dilated pupils, the answer formed from all of the parts. The instinct to do the right thing is imprinted in my heritage, as in the heritage of every other Sheikah, and just at the moment of greatest pain, my mind released the information. I suddenly knew what I had to do to stop the pain, and I knew it was absolutely essential that it happened, because otherwise..."

She opened her eyes and looked at Ganondorf with a serious expression.

"What would have happened, Madam?"

She had to close her eyes again, for his lips attracted her like a torch attracted a wandering moth.

"If the _Affection_ builds up and the _Bonding_ cannot be accomplished, the partners die, Your Majesty. The _Affection,_ the desire, the fire of their magic consumes their life force, and..."

But she did not come any further. Apparently the attraction had the same effect on Ganondorf as it had on her, for she suddenly felt his lips, and the _Feeling_ scorched her thoughts. His hands came to her hips, and he lifted her up in the water and slowly lowered her, closer to him, as close as she could be to him. She cried softly and wrapped her arms around his neck to hold on to him, for the delicate, thronging pain required her to take him in very slowly, until her body had adapted to him. He kissed her again, and his kiss caused the tension in her tissue to loosen, and the pain faded.

They made love having the _Bonding_ for the first time, and it was almost as if they were making love for the very first time again. So many sensations were new and had never been experienced by them, so much wonder and reverence were awakened by their movements and feelings, and at the moment of the highest fulfillment, they both opened their eyes and looked at each other in amazement as they felt their magic breaking out of them, and the blue-glowing aura rose around their bodies. They held each other with their arms, and Ranalla clutched him with her legs, and they kissed and absorbed their emotions from each other's lips.

As Ganondorf kissed her under the shimmering dome of their magic, Ranalla felt her spirit wander to his. There, in the velvety darkness, she saw radiant fires that were burning and pulsing with breathtaking brightness. Full of curiosity, she flew to them and approached one of them. Warm, welcoming flames squirmed around her, caressing her with affectionate force. She willingly let herself be caught by them and sank into the gentle layers of his memory.

5

 _He was standing before the steps of the bridge, looking at the picture before him. Niala, Blir, and Laira were holding a woman with white hair in a tight dark suit. Niala was sitting behind her, clutching her body with her legs and holding a dagger at her throat._

 _There was only one woman with such hair, and at the exams of the Elite Fighters, she had worn a similar suit._

 _Why was she here?_

 _With her resolute rejection, she had crushed all his hopes. Had she perhaps changed her mind? And why had she tried to enter the Fortress secretly? With her powerful magic, she should have felt his barrier..._

 _"What did she say, Weri?" he asked the Sister who was in charge and was threatening the woman with her spear from the front._

 _"Nothing, Your Majesty," said Weri, and bowed. "But the woman is Sheikah and magically gifted. We believe it's Impa."_

 _He descended the steps to see the woman's face. As soon as he had passed through the barrier, he immediately felt her magic. It was graceful, pure, and radiant, like a young morning, and he tried to remember the feeling he had felt in cold Hyrule when he had first met her. At that time, the feeling had been different, more mature, calmer..._

 _He saw her panting and struggling to straighten her body, but Niala held her tightly. He stepped forward and sat down on one knee to better see her face in the flickering light of the torches._

 _"Good evening, Madam Impa," he wanted to say in Hylian._

 _But he broke off when he saw her face, for at that moment there flowed through his body a wave of joy of such power that he almost seized her without thinking._

 _"But no..." he said, stunned with amazement. "...You're not Impa!" Slowly he shook his head as hope clawed into his mind. "But you are Sheikah, aren't you? I must say I am surprised."_

 _The woman blinked and lowered her gaze._

 _"Niala, remove the dagger, please," he said to the Sister behind her, who immediately obeyed. "The legs too."_

 _"Look at me, Madam," he ordered the woman in Hylian, reinforcing his words with magic. He wanted to see her face, he had to!_

 _She raised her face to him and looked into his eyes. She was not Impa, but she was just as beautiful. His gaze remained fixed on her lips, which were gently curved and slightly open, as if waiting for a kiss. In his imagination, he kissed those lips, and for a moment he forgot why he was there. With great difficulty he broke his eyes from her lips and directed his gaze to her figure. She seemed to be thinner than Impa, and he assumed that it had to do with Impa's strong muscles, which resembled those of the Sisters. This woman's body shape was more delicate, more feminine._

 _"Who are you?" he asked._

 _Again, he let his magic intensify his will, but this time he felt her build up a mental barrier to resist his influence. Her barrier was soft and flexible like a fine, stretchy membrane, and he could have broken it easily, but he decided to respect it. Instead, he gently sent his magic to her, but when he met her magic, he could not touch it. Unlike with Impa, however, the barrier did not come from her. It was more like a solid wall surrounding her magic from the outside, and as he approached, he felt that there was something else about her, something wild and powerful, that lured and attracted him._

 _"You are gifted, Madam," he said. "But..."_

 _Without thinking, he put his hand to her cheek, for he wanted to know what it was that called him and stretched out to him like a vine to a support. He stroked her soft skin, and then he felt the frantic power inside her, that reared like a captive animal in its shackles and desperately reached out for his magic. Like a long-forgotten fire that was rekindled, the realization blazed in his mind._

 _It was her magic!_

 _What he had perceived from the outside had been only a small part of her magic! The rest was trapped behind that solid wall which gave him a sense of its presence, but did not let him touch it._

 _"Your magic... it is trapped..." he whispered._

 _Under his fingers, he felt the fervent craving and desire of her magic, and then he had to close his eyes and lower his head as he felt the Viss bursting into his body in a burning, impetuous wave._

 _Confused, he withdrew his hand, for he could not believe it. Her magic was trapped, but at this brief moment of touch, his body had chosen her, and a wild longing for her had seized his whole being._

 _He saw her hungry gaze following his hand, and then it came back to his eyes. He looked at her face with wonder, searching for a clue as to why she had come to him, only a few days after the Ren-Bird had built its nest on the rock._

 _"My guards told me that you wanted to enter the Fortress concealed with magic," he said to her. "Fortunately you failed at my barrier, which protects the access. Will you tell me why you came to us tonight, Madam?"_

 _She swallowed, and he realized that she was confused._

 _"What do you mean, my magic is trapped?" she asked._

 _He laughed, for he had not expected this question. Didn't she know about the hidden part of her magic? Or did she just want to distract him?_

 _"I like you, Madam," he said, smiling. "Come on, let's start over again." He put a hand on his chest and said, "I am Ganondorf Dragmire, King of the Gerudo, and lord of this area you wanted to enter. May I now know your name?"_

 _"Ranalla," she said._

 _He smiled with joy. Her voice echoed softly within him, like a delicate gong swinging from a gentle blow._

 _"Good evening, Madam Ranalla," he said._

 _She nodded softly, and he longed to touch her again._

 _"Since you do not carry any weapons with you apart from your trapped magic, I assume that you do not intend to kill anyone. The guards will now release you, and I hope that you will accept my hospitality without an attempt to escape. Do you agree, Madam?"_

 _"Yes, Your Majesty," she said._

 _"Release her," he ordered the guards, and they obeyed._

 _"Come, Madam Ranalla," he said to her, reaching for her hand. "I must lead you, otherwise you will not be able to go through the barrier."_

 _She gave him her hand and he took it into his with the ancient gesture of his people that meant that he had chosen her. He could have touched her shoulder or her arm to bring her through the barrier, but his magic and the Viss had long made their decision, and his nature commanded him to do this. He heard the guards gasp, perplexed, but he was Gerudo, and it was his right, and they would have to accept it. At the last moment he had renounced the test fight with Sirla, just to find his Ren-Bird here on the bridge, and nothing in the world would ever make him let her go again._

.

With the blissful echo of his joy, Ranalla stepped out of his mind as he parted from her lips. He embraced her with such caution and tenderness that she looked at him in astonishment. The light of the torches sparkled in his eyes, but she knew that it was not the eyes themselves that glittered there.

"Is something wrong, Your Majesty?" she asked anxiously as she recognized tears in his eyes. He smiled, and despite his tears, his face shone with joy. He pressed her to himself again, this time so tightly that his arms were trembling, and Ranalla held her breath.

 _"Andrys, Ranalla, mil Natiar,"_ he said at her ear, and she shuddered at these sacred words she had never taught him.

 _I love you, Ranalla, my life._

There was only one answer.

 _"Andrys, Lorin ill Deron,"_ she said.

"I was in your mind," he said with reverence. "And there I saw him, Madam."

"Whom?" she asked, but then she knew whom he meant.

"Our son, Madam. I met his magic, and he recognized me."

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A/N: Here are the phrases in Sheikah with the translation.

 _Mil Tria... wi drit. - My magic is touching you.  
_ _ _Padri mi raurili rivendriti?_ \- Why did you wake me up?  
_ _Andryl mi, Lorin ill Deron! - Love me (make love to me), Son of the God!  
Andryl mi! - Love me (make love to me)!  
_ _Andrys, Ranalla, mil Natiar. - I love you, Ranalla, my life.  
Andrys, Lorin ill Deron. - I love you, Son of the God.  
_


	22. Chapter 22

**Chapter 22**

1

Eventually, they got out of the water and put on their clothes, which they had dried with their magic before. They returned the swords to the closet in the living room, then went hand-in-hand up into the pavilion. Ranalla's eyes almost closed on the last staircase before the double doors, and she was grateful when Ganondorf lifted her into his arms and brought her through the forest on the shortest way to bed. She knew that the merging of their magic demanded a tremendous amount of energy from the couple performing the _Bonding,_ and when Ganondorf carried her on the path through the grass to the pavilion, she could tell from his trembling muscles that he, too, was exhausted. He sat her on the bed, removed her clothes with a gentle breeze, and folded back the covers; and she rolled into the middle of the bed. After a moment, he lay down beside her and pulled the covers over the two of them. He put his arm around her and pulled her close to him, and Ranalla curled her legs and lay them over his. Then she was asleep.

She awoke late in the morning with Ganondorf lying beside her, breathing quietly. She turned to him and contemplated the profile of his beautiful face against the light of the bright sky that shone through the trees. The memory of what had happened during the night made her shiver, and she closed her eyes with a smile, as a profound satisfaction and calmness fell upon her. With a tiny touch of melancholy, she thought of her mission, of which she had fulfilled another part without having planned it. She had accomplished the _Bonding_ with Ganondorf, and he would never be able to father a child with another woman again. He was bound to her by a love that could not be shaken by anything in the world. She had lost a great part of her life, but the time with Ganondorf that she had won would be filled with love and passion, ecstasy and joy, happiness and bliss, until her last breath. She knew that this all was worth half of her remaining lifetime, and she gently laughed with anticipation at the many years of love she would share with Ganondorf.

As her body twitched, he stirred. He opened his eyes and turned his face to her. His enlarged pupils had diminished, and his gaze was clear and attentive. He smiled when he saw that she was awake.

 _"Granij tirin, ri-su ruadi,"_ he said in Gerudo, although it was morning.

 _"Greet the morning, my Queen,"_ translated Ranalla in her mind. What had become of _Madam?_

 _"Ruadi?"_ she asked, puzzled.

He nodded. "You are now the Queen of the People of the Gerudo. All Sisters will call you that when they learn that you are pregnant."

Ranalla thought. She did not want to be put on a pedestal.

"Would it be possible that they address me like before, Your Majesty? And you too?"

"Of course, Madam. You are the Queen. We must all do what you command."

He straightened up and kissed her. The _Feeling_ surprised them both, and they looked at each other in amazement.

"Will it be always like this?" he asked.

She nodded. "Every time. We will have to learn to live with it, Your Majesty," she said, laughing.

He kissed her again with demanding pressure on her lips, and she felt the _Feeling_ within her call for him. Her magic desired his magic, and he was inside her before she realized.

"What..." she stammered in surprise.

"I am the King, Madam, and my task is to do not only what you command, but also what you want."

"Ah... But I said nothing..."

"Yes, you did, Madam," he said softly as he slowly withdrew and quickly pushed forward again. "I heard it precisely. In your mind, when I kissed you. It said _andryl mi._ I cannot ignore an order from my Queen, Madam."

She closed her eyes and would certainly have laughed if his movements had not removed all thoughts from her consciousness.

2

They knew that Nabooru had served breakfast for them in the living room, so they broke loose from the embrace of their desire with a heavy heart, and dressed. Ranalla realized that she could easily leave her magic with him whenever she wanted, and she enjoyed caressing him with it and making him sigh softly again and again. She let him put her trousers on her and pull the new tunic from Nabooru over her head, which she had washed and dried after the bath in the water basin. Her face grew warm, and his mischievous smile sent tingling shivers down her skin. When he had finished, he took her hand and pulled her with him.

"Come, Madam. I want to go to the Fortress after breakfast, and announce the news of your pregnancy. You cannot imagine how relieved I am."

They went downstairs, and on the way to the living room, Ranalla pulled him into the kitchen because she wanted to talk to Nabooru. Nabooru was kneeling in front of a pile of glass shards, which she was picking up from the ground into a basket with leather gloves on her hands. Ranalla noted that the shards seemed to come from glasses and bottles that were kept in the kitchen.

"Good morning, Madam Nabooru," said Ranalla. "What happened?"

Nabooru looked up from her work and rose.

"Something happened last night during the thunderstorm. I think it was an earthquake. I was already in bed when suddenly there was this tremendous shock, and I never heard as loud a thunder before. This morning, when I went to make breakfast for you and opened the closet, the shards fell out."

Ranalla frowned.

"Shock?" she asked confused.

"Didn't you feel it?" Nabooru asked.

"Yes, we did," said Ganondorf. Nabooru looked at him, and he smiled. She looked at Ranalla, then back to him.

"Did you tell him?" she asked Ranalla in Gerudo with suspicious eyes.

"You knew?!" Ganondorf cried, stunned.

"Ah, you, big man," said Nabooru with a dismissive gesture, then she looked at Ranalla again. "So you told him. Is this the reason why he smashed the glasses?"

"No, he..." Ranalla began uncertainly, but then Nabooru hugged her.

"Well done, _ri-su ruadi,"_ she whispered in her ear. Then she went to Ganondorf and hugged him too.

"Well done, little brother," she said, laughing. "And now go have breakfast, otherwise the Liri leaves will wither, for I can make no barrier."

3

The sky was clear and blue as on any other day, and nothing more could be seen from the thunderstorm that had been raging the night before. Even the sand beneath the hooves of the horses was dry again as they rode before the guards to the Fortress. They were riding later than usual, and Ganondorf urged Ranalla to resume her archery training.

Eagerly, she waited for the gate to be pulled up and entered the courtyard of the Fortress. Today was the last day of the grace period set by the Sisters, and Ranalla thought of Sirla with a beating heart, and how she would receive the news of Ranalla's pregnancy. She felt for the ocarina at her belt and regretted that she would have to return it.

In the Fortress, Ganondorf immediately rode to the practice ground, and Ranalla followed him. She felt rested and cheerful, and at breakfast she had been pleased to note that Nabooru had doubled the quantity of leaves, fruit, and soaked grains for her. Perhaps she had talked to Ganondorf's guards, and they had told her about her ravenous hunger the night before. Ranalla hoped that this time they had also taken the appropriate amount.

In the exercise field were some Sisters who were fighting with their scimitars and shooting with their bows at the targets from their horses. Sirla was just riding the round with the targets, and when she saw Ranalla a gleeful smile colored her face. Ranalla took Druja to the starting point, and Ganondorf let Sardun stop next to her.

"Will you tell her, Madam?" he asked softly. "Or should I?"

"I will tell her," said Ranalla.

Sirla had reached them and rode around Ranalla and Ganondorf like every morning, before she positioned her horse behind them. Ranalla turned to her and said, smiling:

 _"Granij rinnan lastis, Sirla."_

 _"Lissu va,"_ Sirla replied tonelessly, without saying Ranalla's name.

Ranalla took her bow from the hook on her saddle, turned toward the targets, and let Druja run past them at a slow gallop. She shot one arrow after another, and her magic lay quietly and attentively in her body. She could concentrate as never before and had fifteen targets before coming back. Ganondorf raised a thumb over his fist to praise her, but Sirla's lips twitched disapprovingly.

"Without your magic, you would be useless, Sheikah," she said. "You can hit as many targets as you want. This evening your time runs out, and then I will take your man from you as you took him from me."

Ranalla had her horse approach Sirla's horse so that their knees almost touched.

"How exactly do you imagine that, Sirla?" she asked. "His Majesty already told you that he has bound himself to me. How will you force him?"

"He is Gerudo, and he will obey the law," Sirla said sternly and cast a quick look at Ganondorf. He was sitting calmly on Sardun, watching the two women with a serene expression.

"What do you want to do if he refuses?"

"He must not refuse."

"And if I were pregnant?"

Sirla swallowed.

"You're not pregnant," she said.

"But I am, Sirla," said Ranalla.

"I don't believe you!" Sirla said, shaking her head. "You just want to get more time."

"Will you believe it in six months, when I will give birth to the King's son, Sirla?"

"His son..." Sirla stammered. She gasped, her eyes twitching wildly from Ranalla to Ganondorf and back again.

"You're lying!" she cried. "This is some magic trick! He is Gerudo. He can only father daughters!"

Sirla's horse became anxious as she raised her voice, and Sirla stroked its neck to calm it. She looked again at Ganondorf.

"Is it true, Your Majesty?" she asked him.

Ganondorf nodded.

"Since when do you know?"

"I learned last night after we left the Fortress, Sirla."

"How far are you along?" Sirla asked, turning to Ranalla again.

"Six months," Ranalla said, and before Sirla could ask, she added, "With the Sheikah, pregnancy lasts twelve months." From the corner of her eye she saw Ganondorf's eyes widen, but he remained silent.

"But then... then you were..."

"Yes, Sirla. The night before we fought against each other, His Majesty lay with me for the first time and I fell pregnant."

A painful expression came into Sirla's face. She shook her head and covered her face with her hands.

"Why... why didn't you say anything?" she asked in a stifled voice. "I made a fool of myself in front of all the Sisters, just because I thought I could still have him!"

"I had my reasons," Ranalla said calmly. "I'm sorry, Sirla."

Sirla looked away and shook her head.

"This is not right," she said gloomily to herself.

"Sirla..." Ranalla said softly.

 _"Be quiet, Sheikah!"_ Sirla growled. She pointed with her finger at Ranalla's chest, and said sternly, "This is not right!"

Then she had her horse turn around, and rode away.

4

At lunch, Ranalla felt good. She was not tired, and had increased her hit rate to seventeen targets. The guards brought her a large serving of Liri leaves, and she ate five sand-lizard eggs after she had emptied her plate of fruit. Ganondorf watched her, smiling, while he quietly ate his serving.

Apart from Sirla, she had not told anyone about her pregnancy, nor had Ganondorf. Sirla came to lunch and gave Ganondorf a hungry look as she walked past him. Ganondorf nodded to her, smiling. Ranalla listened to her own mind, but she could not feel any jealousy. The _Bonding_ had given her a warm feeling of security and had removed her fear of losing Ganondorf to another woman.

In the afternoon, she fought against Ganondorf with two scimitars. He had blunted their swords with a protective barrier, so that she could strike him without having to worry. His four guards came and watched and called encouraging words and hints about Ganondorf's technique to her. Ganondorf cast them some annoyed glances, but they just laughed.

"Come on, Your Majesty," said Risha. "We have to fight as a foursome with two scimitars against you to defeat you. Ranalla is alone, she can use a little help."

Ranalla listened to the hints of the guards and used all the feints and manipulations that Ganondorf had taught her. Her muscles had become strong, and her movements quick and skillful. She had watched the other Sisters during her visits to the practice site and tried to imitate their technique. They often jumped with a special attack on their opponents, lifting a sword over their heads and spinning the other in a circle. For parrying, they crossed the two scimitars in front of them, creating an effective shield to ward off an attack.

She noticed that Ganondorf was observing her, and his superior smile gradually disappeared when he had to make a real effort. Soon, however, a new smile appeared on his face, whose trace Ranalla had seen in his eyes the evening before, when she had fought against him during the thunderstorm. He was proud of her, and she was proud of herself that she had managed to make him proud.

 _"Andrys, ri-su ruad,"_ she said smiling to him as he approached her and tried to hit her. She had mixed their two languages for the declaration of love, and in the brief moment he needed to understand what she meant, she hit his wrist with her right sword. He grimaced, but he did not drop his sword as she had hoped.

"Nice try, Madam," he growled breathlessly. "Will you go with me under the waterfall afterwards?"

A shudder ran through Ranalla as she saw before her inner eye his face glowing with pleasure, and felt the anticipation of him inside her. At that moment, she felt Ganondorf's hand wrap around her own wrist and twist her hand. She screamed with pain and involuntarily turned her back to relax the tension at her joint. Then she heard his sword fall to the ground, and he grabbed her other wrist. His arms were longer than hers, and he could effortlessly turn both her hands on her back, where the swords were useless. He could even hold her two wrists with one hand and turn Ranalla with the other hand, so she stood face to face with him. He buried his fingers in her hair and gently pulled backwards, lifting her face to his, and then he kissed her stormily. The _Feeling_ overwhelmed her and her legs swayed under her, but he pressed her to himself with his hand that was holding her wrists.

"Will you?" he asked at her lips.

"You _meant_ that?" she asked, puzzled.

"Of course, Madam."

"I will, Your Majesty."

"Then drop your swords."

"No, Your Majesty."

"I have defeated you."

"You used a nasty trick."

"Yes, Madam. Just like you."

"But..."

"You are good, Madam. I'm proud of you. You let me work hard, so I have to use mean tricks to defeat you."

Ranalla laughed.

"Take my swords, Your Majesty. I don't want to drop them."

His grip on her wrists loosened and he took her swords out of her hands. He picked up his sword and gave all the swords to his guards.

"Tell Letria to gather all the Sisters in the courtyard at sunset. I have something to tell them."

5

 _He was sitting close behind her, her back leaning against his chest. Through the thin fabric of her combat suit, he could feel her warm body, and he pressed her to himself. She was so soft, so delicate, so lovely in his arms, and he longed to touch her, caress her body, make it shiver under his hands. He sent his magic to her and met the barrier she had already built on the bridge. Her magic lay behind it like a precious treasure, for which his soul was yearning since he could remember._

 _"Lower your barrier, Madam," he begged softly at her ear, and his lips touched her warm skin. "I promise you I will not influence you. I've never been so close to a magically gifted woman, and I want to enjoy the feeling."_

 _He felt her shiver, but she shook her head._

 _"Please, Madam..." he urged her gently. He put his face on her soft hair and breathed in her smell. She smelled fresh and feminine, and a little of the dust of the red rocks of the Gerudo Valley. Probably she had watched the guards on the bridge by lying on the ground..._

 _Then she lowered her barrier, and his magic flowed to her. Her magic was pure and bright and attracted him like a radiant light in the darkness. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath, and he pressed her even closer to him, for he wanted to establish a connection with her magic. His magic sought an opening, but he could not reach it. Oh, how he longed for her!_

.

Smiling, Ranalla stepped out of his mind as he pulled away from her. He lay propped on his elbow beside her on the bed in the niche under the waterfall, and she felt the warm, pulsating field of the blue aura that had enveloped her and Ganondorf's body after their love. The aura seemed to promote the telepathic exchange of their feelings and thoughts, and for the short time it lasted, they both experienced a wonderful sense of unity with each other.

She opened her eyes and looked up at him. He looked at her, smiling, and the slowly fading aura illuminated his face.

"He came to me," he said. "It was as if he had been waiting for me, and I felt his pure, innocent magic." His eyes looked for a moment into the distance before they turned to her again. "It is very strong, Madam," he said, and when he kissed her again, Ranalla received the shiver of the _Feeling_ from him.

"It will be hard to do anything else but make love to you, Madam," he said. "It was already hard enough before, but this... this _Feeling..."_

With a touch of guilt, Ranalla remembered Impa and Ghirahim, who had been doomed because of the _Feeling._ Ghirahim had been eager to experience the _Feeling_ outside the protective barrier, and the Daemon had kidnapped him...

Ganondorf stood up and dressed. As so often he did, he brought her clothes and put them on her, just to touch her. Ranalla smiled and enjoyed his strong hands on her body.

They had to go into the water once more, and then dry their clothes again. As they walked through the rocky pathway lit by torches, Ranalla felt her tension growing. In the afternoon, they had left their horses to the guards, so they climbed the steps of the high stairway to get into the courtyard.

A large bonfire was burning in the middle of the courtyard, and the Sisters were sitting, standing, or lying around the fire. The little girls were playing between them, and Ranalla saw the baskets of food again. Her hunger stirred and she wondered if the guards had taken something for their dinner. She heard Rista's and Laira's guitars somewhere, and remembered that she had to give back Sirla's ocarina.

Ganondorf held her hand tightly in his, and another memory came to Ranalla's mind. She remembered herself eight months ago, walking at his hand across the courtyard. Where had Sirla been at that time? The Sisters had been forced to bind her, Weri had said. Since then, she had learned that some Sisters fought for a man until death...

As Ganondorf walked with her through the assembled Sisters, some little girls came and ran giggling around them. They were enjoying themselves running between Ganondorf's long legs and playing a catching game. One of them clung to his leg, and when he lifted her laughing with his free arm, Ranalla recognized Weri's daughter Lureli. Although she had often seen the lively girl, she caught herself as she searched the small, round face for traces of Ganondorf's features. Ganondorf met her gaze and shook his head, smiling. With Lureli on his arm, he said softly:

"He was a proud knight from Labrynna, who was on the way to the tournament in Hyrule, Madam. Weri had watch service and attacked him, and she almost killed him, for he refused to fight with the sword against a woman. The Sisters called me, and I had to explain it to him. Afterwards, Weri had to scare him away with the sword, because he was determined to marry her."

Ranalla smiled. The story suited Weri. She did not do things by halves.

As she looked around, she noticed a few older girls who were practicing new figures for the Sun Dance in a corner of the courtyard, and between them she saw the girl Lenori, whom she had already met half a year earlier at the Sun Festival. She had not yet told Ganondorf that she had recognized Lenori, but with the new security that the _Bonding_ gave her, the fear of jealousy had also left her.

"Which are your daughters, Your Majesty?" she asked. "Would you like to introduce them to me?"

Lureli began to squirm on his arm, and he put her down. He looked at Ranalla in amazement.

"Do you really want to meet them, Madam?" he asked.

Ranalla thought. "I think so," she said. "If I know who they are, I can deal with it. If I do not know, I wonder with every girl here whether it is one of your daughters."

"All right," he said. "I will show them to you afterwards, agreed?"

They had reached the fire, and Ranalla noticed the Sisters rising and approaching. The music stopped, and even the giggling of the girls died. Ranalla looked into the curious faces of the Sisters and noticed that some of them were carrying their swords. Ganondorf still held her hand and waited patiently until all the conversations had stopped.

On the other side of the fire, facing them, was Sirla. She had her sword on her back and looked at Ranalla with a cool expression. Ranalla was glad that Ganondorf would make the announcement, and that she would not have to speak.

It was quiet, and Ganondorf took a deep breath.

"This is Ranalla of the Sheikah," he said in a loud voice. "In her language, which I have learned, her name means _Ray of Light._ If you want, you can call her _Dern Cedris._ She learned our language from me, for I chose her. She meets the requirements of the Code in every respect, and I bound myself to her. I lay with her and gave her my heritage, and she is bearing my son."

Gasps and whispers of astonishment filled the courtyard as the Sisters heard Ganondorf's words. But he raised his voice, and said:

"This fulfills the last requirement you have imposed on me. From this day on, I therefore will no longer be chosen by you."

Ranalla had been watching Sirla. When Ganondorf had finished his speech, Ranalla noticed that most of the Sisters bowed their heads with the words _ri-su ruadi,_ but not Sirla. She was breathing heavily and came with quick steps around the fire. She stopped before Ranalla and pulled her sword, then she turned around and addressed the other Sisters.

"Did you hear that?" she cried. "How can it be that she is bearing a son? How does she know? If it were the child of His Majesty, then she would have a daughter! I say she was already pregnant when she came here, and now she is trying to foist her..."

Ganondorf's four guards emerged from the crowd and stood before Ranalla and him.

"You're insulting your Queen, Sister Sirla," Risha said. "If she commands, we will kill you."

"She's not my Queen!" Sirla cried.

Ranalla gazed uneasily at Ganondorf, who was watching the scene with a serene expression. He felt her gaze and pressed her hand.

"Quiet, Madam," he said.

"This woman who steals a man from a Sister and claims to give birth to a son cannot be the Queen of the Gerudo."

"Why not, Sirla?" Ranalla heard a voice, and she realized that it was Letria who had spoken.

"Because her son cannot be the King's son. For thousands of years, a man has been born with the Gerudo only every hundred years. The King is this man. Besides, all male Gerudo could only father daughters with the Sisters. This son, whom she bears, cannot be his. She's a deceiver!"

"Do you want to comment, _ri-su ruadi?"_ Letria, who had meanwhile stepped out from the crowd, addressed Ranalla.

Ganondorf let go of her hand. "Now it's your turn, Madam. Tell them. I'm curious."

Ranalla swallowed, for she had not expected that. She had instructed her egg cell to prepare male genes because the Guardians of Time had ordered her to do so. The Treasure had to be male, each of his incarnations had been male because the Goddess had so determined. This time, the Treasure was with the Gerudo, and only a Sheikah could have a male child from a Gerudo. Could she reveal this secret?

She pushed her way between the guards, stood before Sirla, and turned to the round of the Sisters.

"I can only declare that the child I carry has developed from the cell His Majesty gave me. He has acknowledged the child within me and does not doubt that it is his Son."

"What kind of explanation is this?" she heard Sirla's scornful voice behind her. Ranalla turned to her.

"It is the explanation I can give you, Sirla," she said.

Sirla's eyes narrowed, and Ranalla saw the grip of her hand tightening around her sword. Ranalla called her strong, merged magic and prepared to build a barrier, because she had made a decision.

"I do not believe you," Sirla growled. "If you are really bearing a son, it is not his. You're an intruder. You bring the order of the Gerudo out of balance and anger the Goddess. You must die!"

She jumped at Ranalla and slashed with her sword at Ranalla's head. Ranalla ducked and rolled behind Sirla. With her new abilities, she applied a quick move of those that Ganondorf had taught her. She grabbed Sirla's hand holding the sword from behind and twisted it along with the sword.

Sirla knew nothing about Ranalla's new abilities and was completely surprised by her move. Ranalla pulled Sirla's hand farther up and noticed that Sirla's fingers at the hilt of the sword were loosening. She took the sword from her hand and threw it to the ground. Then she stood behind Sirla, who was taller than she was.

With one hand she held Sirla's hand, and with the other she built the soundproof barrier she had prepared. She saw the Sisters back off confusedly from the bluish shimmering dome. Ganondorf said something that Ranalla could not hear, of course, and the Sisters stopped and watched.

"Forgive me, Sirla," she said softly. Then she hooked her foot in front of Sirla's feet and dragged them backwards. With a scream, Sirla fell on her knees into the sand, while Ranalla continued holding her hand tight. Sirla tried to free her hand, but Ranalla used her magic to support her grip and held Sirla on the ground. She leaned to her ear and whispered softly:

"Since you are the only one who doubts, I will reveal my secret to you alone. The women of my people are able to determine the gender of their children. I wanted to have a son, so I ordered my body to prepare a cell with a male predisposition."

"But why?" Sirla asked, confused.

"That's my business," said Ranalla. "I have my reasons, as I said. It has nothing to do with your people, and I am not here to harm you."

"But you do harm us!" said Sirla. "He does not want to be chosen anymore."

"He is Gerudo, Sirla, like you. Don't you grant him the right to choose?"

She felt Sirla's muscles relax. Sirla pinched her eyes, bowed her head, and swallowed.

"You fell in love with him, didn't you?" Ranalla said softly. She was still holding Sirla's hand.

"I have fulfilled all his conditions! When I was twenty-two, I could finally choose him. That was my chance that evening!"

"I'm sorry, Sirla. If I had known that, I would have come later, and you would have your daughter now. I would like to free your hand now, so you can stand up. But before that, I would like to give you something, and I hope it can replace what I took from you without purpose. Close your eyes, please, and don't be afraid."

Again, Ranalla called her magic and built an invisibility shield around herself and Sirla inside the blue soundproof dome. Carefully, she put her other hand on Sirla's cheek and released Sirla's hand. With her hand on Sirla's cheek, she stepped before Sirla and sank to her knees. Sirla was up on her knees, with her eyes closed. Without interrupting the touch, Ranalla took Sirla's face in her hands, gently pulled it down to her face, and put her lips on hers. Sirla twitched, but Ranalla held her face.

"Kiss me the way you would kiss him," she whispered. "Do what I do."

Then she kissed Sirla and felt her warm lips and her soft tongue. Her merged magic let her do new, miraculous things with her mind. She recalled the memory of her first night with Ganondorf and sent it over the connection to Sirla. She sent her the feelings, sensations and impressions, but the words and thoughts she kept to herself. As she parted from her, she looked into Sirla's wide, astonished eyes. She dissolved the two barriers, and the troubled, bewildered voices of the Sisters came back to them. Ranalla rose, took Sirla's hand, and helped her get up. From the bag on her belt she took the ocarina and held it out to Sirla.

"You can keep it," Sirla said. "I can make a new one."


	23. Chapter 23

**Chapter 23**

1

 _When he opened the door, she was standing at his desk, browsing through his diary. At that moment he was glad that she did not know Gerudo, or at least did not seem able to read it. She looked fresh and clean, and she was wearing the red tunic he had brought for her from the Fortress the night before, after he had defeated Sirla. He had instructed Letria to keep his room ready, and to prepare Hylian clothes. The dark combat suit she had been wearing when he had found her covered almost her entire body, and he suspected that the revealing cut of the desert garb of the Sisters would not suit her._

 _In his despair, he had struck her hard at the fight in the morning, although he had soon realized that she was not able to withstand him. However, at the moment of greatest danger, she had managed to call her magic, and a small piece of the trapped part had broken free. Full of joy, he had felt the delicate connection that had opened._

 _He closed the door behind himself and went to her. A few steps before he reached her, he sent his magic to her. It was an intoxicating feeling to touch her in this special way. He reached for her hands and felt her soft skin. She seemed to enjoy his touch because she closed her eyes, and he felt her tremble. He wanted to see her face, so put his hand under her chin._

 _"It's a feeling that can make you addicted, Madam," he said. "But I want to give myself up to this addiction. I want to feel you, Madam, your whole magic. I want to help you awaken it. May I?"_

 _Her lips opened._

 _"I do not know," she said, and he felt her uncertainty. "Why do you want to do that, Your Majesty?"_

 _He wanted to kiss her so badly! Her gently arched lips seemed to wait for him to touch them. But he had to be patient. And besides, he had to know why she had appeared at the Fortress just at this time._

 _Where did she come from?_

 _It was known that the Sheikah community had been completely destroyed more than two hundred years ago, and Impa was the only survivor. Could it be that she was wrong? This woman, however, apart from her beauty, which she shared with Impa, was the exact opposite of Impa. She was warm and sensual, and her magic... From the first moment there on the bridge he had felt that her magic sought him and wanted to come to him. It rebelled against its prison and jerked wildly at the bars of its cage. He longed so absolutely to unleash it and touch it with his magic!_

 _With a deep breath, he pulled her with him to the sofa. He sat down and gestured to her to do the same._

 _"I think we need to talk about what you are here for, Madam," he said, when she had settled on the sofa and looked at him questioningly. "You have not told me why you wanted to break into the Fortress."_

 _She thought, and he had the impression that she wanted to hide the real reason, although she did not want to lie to him. He decided to accept her explanation, whatever it might be._

 _"Your Majesty," she said, "at the moment your guards took hold of me, the purpose of my attempt to break into the Fortress dissolved. I cannot say more, but you have my word that you do not have to fear that I will flee or commit an attack on you."_

 _He smiled inwardly. He had estimated her correctly._

 _"This is not the answer I had hoped for, but I am satisfied, Madam," he said. "You have probably noticed that I am living in this Temple almost alone. Apart from me, there is a total of four guards and my deputy Nabooru. The guards are not here because I need them, but because the Sisters are of the opinion that a king should have guards. The four Sisters are rather more like servants who will help me when I have a guest, as it is now."_

 _He paused to rate the effect of his words on her. Her face was serious, and he continued._

 _"I mean, Madam, that an escape attempt from this Temple would take you right to the barrier from which I rescued you before. An attack on my life would neither be of any use to you, because I can take care of myself, even without guards."_

 _She swallowed. He seemed to have frightened her with his explanation, and he decided not to tell her anything about the twins. He would have preferred to hide her from them, but he knew they would find out anyway..._

 _"You could have killed me, or cast me into the dungeon," she said. "But you did not. Why?"_

 _He smiled._

 _Kill her? This precious, only being in the world who might be able to make him happy? The Sisters in the Fortress had tied Sirla after he had withdrawn and gone to the bridge. Otherwise, she would have got ahead of him and would have killed this unique woman herself, before he could see her at all. He looked at her and contemplated her beautiful face, her red eyes and snow-white hair, her slender body, the delicious, small, firm breasts that arched under the red tunic and showed him her excitement... On the ride through the night his hands had caressed them over the thin fabric of her suit. She had let it happen and had even leaned into his touch longingly, and he had barely brought himself to leave her alone in that room. He wanted to explain it to her, to tell her what it meant to him that he had found her..._

 _"The reason, Madam, is that you unite three qualities in your person, which are almost unique in their combination: you are from the people of the Sheikah, you are magically gifted, and you are a woman. Your sister Impa, who lives at the royal court of Hyrule, was my only candidate so far, but she is out of the question for various reasons."_

 _"Candidate for what, Your Majesty?" she asked him with an innocent expression. "Why do you need someone from the people of the Sheikah?"_

 _He pointed to the books the twins had brought him from some long bygone time he had never seen._

 _"You saw the books this morning that are written in the Sheikah language. I would like to study them, but I cannot understand your language. I need you to teach me Sheikah, Madam."_

 _He saw the surprise in her face, but she nodded slowly._

 _"May I ask how you got those books?"_

 _"No, Madam," he said, smiling, and shook his head. He did not know himself._

 _"What about the other two reasons? Why do you need a magically gifted woman, Your Majesty?"_

 _He laughed. The velvety skin of her cheeks took on a rosy tone, and even over the distance which separated her from him, the warmth of her body radiated like the hot sun outside. A violent draw was in his hands, which were attracted by her body. He wanted to touch her, wrap his arms around her, he wanted to kiss those lips and feel that skin... He wanted to sink into this warm body and lose himself in it._

 _"Don't you know, Madam?" he asked._

 _Couldn't she see? Couldn't she feel that he was holding himself back only with the greatest effort?_

 _She shook her head._

 _He put his hand to her cheek and let his magic flow to her. He surrounded her body with his magic and felt her shudder. She closed her eyes, and he wanted to press his lips upon hers as they opened with a soft sigh and invited him. He had to withdraw his magic, because her lips attracted him with almost overwhelming power. She opened her eyes, and he felt how she wanted to follow his magic... He slowly moved his hand from her cheek over her neck, her shoulders and her arm to her hand. He could not kiss her lips, but..._

 _He took her hand, closed his eyes, and gently kissed the middle of her palm. He felt her skin, and it was almost as if he were kissing her lips, and the desire in his body nearly drove him out of his mind._

 _"Because I want to make love to you, Madam," he said to her._

 _She gasped, puzzled, and he felt her hand tremble in his. But not only her hand, her whole body trembled while she was sitting there before him._

 _"You want..." she breathed. "But... you don't know if I..."_

 _Oh, yes, he knew. He knew she wanted him just as he wanted her. He could read it in her eyes, on her body, and in her magic, whose crying and pleading he perceived with his._

 _But he could not tell her that._

 _"That's true, Madam," he said instead. "But I hope that I can make you want me too."_

 _He let go of her hand and took a curl of her white hair. "I want to love you not only with my body and my mind, but also with my magic. And I want you to answer me, and that your full magic would be involved." He gently stroked the curl behind her ear and took a deep breath to soothe his excitement. "But not yet," he said softly to her. "It's_ _still_ _too early. You are not ready yet. But soon."_

 _Soon, he would be able to love her. When he had learned her language, he could read the book, the one in the title of which he had found one of the two words he had learned from Impa._

 _Tria._

 _Magic._

 _He hoped to find in the book a clue as to how her magic could be awakened._

 _"All right," she said softly. "I agree, Your Majesty. Thank you for telling me your reasons. I will try to teach you my mother tongue. When would you like to start?"_

2

Ranalla opened her eyes. Her lips were still vibrating from the fervent kisses that had accompanied their love. Her arms lay around Ganondorf's neck, and she felt the last faint traces of his climax in her body. She saw the blue light of the aura that had brought her a new memory from Ganondorf's lips and tongue at the moment of her own fulfillment. His arms closed tightly around her, and he turned with her so that she lay on him. She loved when he did that, and she loved to keep him inside her and fall asleep on his chest while he slowly retreated and her body relaxed.

She raised her head and looked at his face. He had closed his eyes, and his hands idly stroked her hips. His face shone in the blue light of the slowly fading aura beneath the yellow flowers, and her heart melted with love for him. She closed her eyes again and let sleep come to her as Ganondorf's hands slowed and her breath adjusted to the slow raising and falling of his chest.

After Ranalla had dissolved her two barriers in the courtyard of the Fortress, the Sisters had rushed to her and Sirla, asking if everything was all right. But Ranalla had reassured them, and they had stopped. Sirla had picked up her sword, then she had taken Ranalla's hand and had gone with her to Ganondorf. There she had taken his hand and kissed it, then she had laid Ranalla's hand in his. With a wistful expression, she had embraced him and whispered in his ear. Ranalla had heard it, for her senses were still reinforced by the magic she had called.

 _"Versil mirlin sijes, ri-su ruad. Sertu mirijes elti, nal ri."_

She had gone away shaking her head, but after a few steps she had stopped and had come back to Ranalla, giggling. She had taken her hand again and pulled her aside. With a questioning gesture of her hand and curious eyes she had asked Ranalla softly:

"Does..." Again she giggled. "Does it always hurt so much?"

Ranalla froze with embarrassment, but Sirla twitched her head persistently, so she then nodded softly with wide eyes.

"And... and you find that... pleasant?"

She had transferred her feelings with the memory, but perhaps her feelings did not correspond to Sirla's expectations. She swallowed and thought. Ganondorf was a tall, strong man, and Ranalla was smaller than him. In spite of her feminine forms, her body was narrow, and when he came to her, he brought her pain at first, widening her until her body adjusted and allowed him to sink into her completely. It hurt, but it was good, it was a blissful, breathtaking pain that she awaited with desire, and when Ganondorf entered her and they moved together in their common rhythm, the pain completely disappeared. And when he kissed her and sent his magic to her beforehand, her body opened for him and the pain was hardly perceptible and lasted only for a moment.

"It hurts," she said, "but he does it in such a way that I like it."

"How?"

Ranalla tilted her head to one side and pressed her lips together.

"All right," said Sirla. "I don't know. Once – that might be fine for me, but every time?" She shook her head again. "For a woman who cannot shoot arrows with a bow, you are very brave, Sheikah," she said, laughing, and went away.

"I _can_ shoot arrows!" Ranalla shouted after her, but Sirla made a dismissive gesture with her hand and disappeared in the crowd of the Sisters. She felt Ganondorf's hand reaching for her, and he gently turned her around to himself.

"Do you want to eat something, Madam?" he asked. "The Sisters will still be celebrating here, and you did not have..."

But Ranalla pulled his head to her lips and whispered in his ear.

"I want to feel you inside me, Your Majesty. I want you to make love to me in the pavilion until we fall asleep from exhaustion. Let us ride home."

She felt him shiver, then he kissed her with fervent, hungry lips, and the _Feeling_ made her heart jump before he pulled her to the horses on his hand. The four guards joined them. As they rode through the mist of the Wasteland to the Temple and the guards had trouble following them, Ranalla thought of the words Sirla had whispered to Ganondorf.

 _"You are a good lover, my King. But you love her, not me."_

For how long had Sirla loved him? What did it mean that she had given Ranalla her ocarina? Had she given up her claim to Ganondorf? Had she accepted that he loved only Ranalla, and that she would never have a daughter with him?

3

When she awoke, it was quiet in the garden. Not the slightest sound was to be heard, not even the wind. She rose and looked at the two figures lying side by side on the bed. The man had put an arm around the woman's body, and she lay with her head against his chest, tightly snuggled up to him. He was so beautiful when he was sleeping, and she went to his side of the bed and put her lips on his. She knew she might have been jealous, but for some reason, this feeling was no longer important. The man smiled in his sleep, and she gently stroked his forehead with her fingers. She would come back later.

She stepped out of the pavilion and rose into the air. Soon, she had reached the height of the trees that formed the little forest, and she flew slowly over their tops, looking down at the bushes and flower beds, the paths, and the water pool that nurtured the plants. Deep down, the white wall shone like a giant, round waterfall that surrounded the forest and the two sleeping figures. She flew over it and toward the edge of the platform lit by the bright moonlight.

As she reached the edge, something in the distance caught her attention. A dim light was down there, behind the large stone bridge. She stepped over the edge and flew there. As she got closer, she realized that it was another wall. Red and white streaks flowed around each other and merged on a transparent background. She tried to touch the wall, but as her hand approached it, sharp, pointed spikes suddenly emerged, and she drew back her hand in fright. She flew up and wanted to fly over the wall to see what was on the other side. She followed the wall farther and farther up, but she did not find the end. At some point, she realized that she was flying with her back to the ground, but the wall was still in front of her. Far, far below her, she saw the platform with the forest again, which was surrounded by the narrow, blue wall.

She turned and searched for the end of the white-red wall, but she did not find it. The wall surrounded the rock with the forest, it surrounded the whole world. It was a dangerous, evil wall, a huge prison that caused pain when one touched it.

For a moment, she wondered if the two figures who were sleeping so quietly down there knew of the evil wall surrounding them and the universe. Perhaps she could tell them, when she came back. But first she wanted to fly.

She flew back to the ground and then over the edge, down to where she knew that there was an opening. Long ago, she had been there and had followed somebody. She wanted to see if she still knew the way.

She found the opening and flew in. The corridor was dark, but her eyes saw the walls of sandstone in the dark. She flew farther through a large room, and then through many more corridors. She remembered the way and followed it, until she came to the door she had not been able to open last time.

The door itself was closed with a white and red wall, just like the one that was surrounding the universe, but here it was just in front of the door, and at the sides, the way was free.

She flew through the sandstone wall to the other side of the dangerous wall, and then she was in a large room she already knew. Evil things had happened here, and the woman who was lying up there in bed with the beautiful man had suffered pain. Right now, there was no one in this room, but there, behind the heavy iron door, she saw a beam of light. She flew there and through the iron door.

When she came into the next room, she felt something strange. Something was there, filling the air, like a biting smoke burning on her skin. She looked around and saw two figures. They had the same face and rode through the air on sticks. Ranalla recognized them, as she had seen them before. They were the evil birds with the broomsticks that had caused pain to the woman of the beautiful man.

The two figures were busy pouring the contents of several bottles into a large basin. They were talking to each other, and Ranalla listened.

"Do not add so much of the extract, Koume," said one, "otherwise it will affect the child."

"Be quiet, Kotake," shouted the other figure. "You must always complain. With the other, I did the same, and it was just right. It urged her zeal, so that she was ambitious enough to ignore that stupid Code. If I had put less, she would never have managed to seduce the King!"

"But she died immediately after birth, have you forgotten that? She could at least have given the child her first milk, so that he might be strong."

"Ah," growled the first figure. "Leave me alone, Kotake! He has become strong! He has grown even taller and stronger than the old King. And now that he has passed on his heritage, the Master will be satisfied."

"And if you were not so incapable, we would not have to tremble before his wrath all the time," scolded the second figure, who had a white gem on her forehead, "but instead we could have given him his body a long time ago." She flew on her stick to a large trowel hanging from the wall. "Come on, let me do that!" she hissed as she returned to the basin with the trowel. "If you put in too much, she will either notice, or she will die before birth! I do not think that the Master will wait another century. He will make his threat come true, remove our magical powers, and seek new servants."

"He cannot do that without killing us," said the first figure again. "I wonder how he managed to preserve the magic of this ardent youth he fetched for himself, anyway."

"He has his methods," muttered the figure with the white gem, while she stirred with the trowel in the basin. "He could also take away our shape and turn us into the sleepless, undead horror that we have been for the last four hundred years. I want this to be over!"

With a jerky movement, the figure pulled the trowel from the basin and threw it on the ground.

"Well, now it's finished," she said. "Come, let's pour it into the water."

"Who knows how long she will crave the leaves, Kotake," murmured the figure with the red gem. "If she stops, we'll have to think of something else."

"We will have to do that anyway, if His Majesty comes up with the idea of cleaning her, Koume. Do not tell me such scary tales: if I could sleep, I would have nightmares!"

 _"Ri-su ruadi!"_

She heard the voice softly at the edge of her consciousness, but she still wanted to stay here and listen to the two birds on the broomsticks. They were planning something terrible and wanted to poison the woman of the beautiful man! She had to tell him about that when she came back.

 _"Ri-su ruadi! At-spartij, ri-su ruadi!"_

It was louder this time, more urgent, and she could no longer ignore the voice. She felt gentle shocks in her body and reluctantly turned away from the two figures, and made her way back. It was the beautiful man who called for her, and she wondered a little. She flew through the iron door and through the large room, then she dodged the dangerous wall, which lay outside the door, and flew into the corridor.

 _"RI-SU RUADI! AT-SPARTIJ!"_

It hurt in her ears, and the shocks grew stronger. She felt like she had to hurry, otherwise he would be angry. Quickly, she flew through the corridors, until she came to the great hall, which had the opening on the other side of it. She flew through, then up to the platform, over the bright blue wall and through the forest, until she came to the pavilion.

The man had awoken and had laid his head against the woman's chest, who was now lying on her back. She had closed her eyes and did not move, and Ranalla saw fear in the man's eyes. He raised his head and shook her again, and Ranalla felt the shocks on her body. She saw that the man was breathing heavily and thinking intensely. He stood up from the bed, took the woman in his arms, and left the pavilion with her. Ranalla followed them on their way to the water basin, because she wanted to see what was happening.

 _"Ri-su ruadi,"_ the man said loudly, shaking the woman. They had reached the water basin, and the man lay the woman down. He sent a whirl into the water and a wave of icy cold hit Ranalla.

What was wrong with the woman?

Why was the man so agitated?

 _"Ri-su ruadi,"_ the man said again. _"At-spartij!"_

Again, he put his head to her chest, but then he twitched his head in frustration. She watched as he pondered briefly, then a thought seemed to come to him.

"Madam Ranalla," he said, and suddenly Ranalla understood him.

"Come, Madam, you must wake up, please."

He spoke to Ranalla, but he looked at the woman. Again, he thought for a moment. She knew he was talking to her, but she could not answer him. She could only answer him if she...

"Forgive me, Madam," he said, and struck out with his hand.

4

Ranalla slid into her body and woke up at the moment his hand hit her. Her face was thrown to the side and she felt the burning pain. Immediately, she reached for her cheek and was frightened by the icy coldness of her hand.

"Madam," he shouted, tearing her body to himself. He held her tightly and kissed her hair and her face, and in between times her lips, too, and she had a wonderful feeling when he did that. Her body was cold, and she trembled, but a warm wind swept over her skin and dried her, then she was in his arms, and he carried her away.

"You terrified me, Madam," he said softly, pressing her to himself.

Ranalla was confused. She had just been lying on his chest after he had made love to her with wild passion, and now that pain was on her cheek, and she had awoken in the cold water.

"What happened, Your Majesty?" she asked in her mother tongue.

"Can you speak Gerudo, Madam?" he asked.

 _"Juun, ri-su ruad. Nest slahil sijet?"_

He paused and kissed her lips, and she felt his relief. She wrapped her arms around his neck and returned his kiss, and that beautiful sensation was back. The _Feeling,_ now she knew again.

"I can walk now," she said between his kisses, and fidgeted, so he put her down.

"No way, _ri-su ruadi,"_ he said. "I'll bring you to bed, and then I will warm you."

"How do you want to..."

But he kissed her again and pressed her to himself so tightly that she could say nothing more.

When she felt him put her on the bed, she pulled him to herself and kissed him again, and his warm skin on hers let her thoughts flow only in a certain direction.

 _"Riit, mirij ri,"_ she breathed, and she realized that she spoke these words in Gerudo for the first time.

"Are you sure, Madam?" he asked her. "You just were unconscious."

"And you wanted to warm me, Your Majesty," she said, pressing herself to him.

"Yes, Madam," he said. "With my magic, but if you want..."

 _"Juun, ri-su ruad,"_ she gasped, rising to meet him. Confused, she realized that something was missing, because though he came to her carefully, the pain was violent, and she groaned.

"Forgive me, Madam," he said softly, and then she felt his magic that enveloped her. "I was so scared for you that I..."

She kissed him and sent her magic to him, and the _Feeling_ did its work, extinguishing the pain.


	24. Chapter 24

**Chapter 24**

1

They continued riding to the Fortress in the morning to practice shooting arrows at the targets from horseback. Ranalla was not allowed to use her magic to shoot, but she used it to support her concentration. She made good progress, and sometimes she even managed to hit all the targets.

Sirla often came and watched when she was not on duty. She stood with her arms crossed and a somber face at the edge of the training ground, and she mocked Ranalla often when she missed a target. But since that evening when Ganondorf had announced that Ranalla was pregnant, there seemed to be a quiet consensus between them that Sirla would no longer lay claim to Ganondorf.

Ranalla was glad that the ocarina belonged to her now, and she continued practicing diligently, learning new songs from her memory or from a book of old songs of the Gerudo she had found in Ganondorf's library. Sometimes she composed new melodies herself, and Ganondorf accompanied her on the organ.

The Treasure had begun to grow, and soon she realized that the waistband of her trousers was too tight at her belly. Nabooru suggested to her to try the traditional pantaloons of the Gerudo. At first, Ranalla would not hear of it, but one day she could not fasten the closure of her trousers anymore, and she went, frustrated, to Nabooru, and asked her to show her how to wear such a garment. The waistband clung to her waist bones and lay low under her stomach in the front, but she pulled her tunic over it, so that her belly would not show. Ganondorf chuckled at the unfamiliar sight, and Ranalla snorted like a little girl and turned her back to him.

Ganondorf had begun to translate the volume on the Nature of Magic by Andyr Kendrice from Sheikah to Gerudo. He worked for several hours every day, and Ranalla helped him when he had problems with complicated formulations or with the ambiguity of the Sheikah language.

Since her fainting, he had made it a habit to wake her up several times at night, and to check whether she was responsive. He had been able to wake her up from her unconsciousness only with a slap to her face, and he seemed to feel guilty. Ranalla could not remember anything except for the burning pain on her cheek and the cold water, and sometimes she was annoyed when he woke her up at night. Most of the times she could fall asleep again quickly, but sometimes she lay awake for a long time. On such nights, she had the feeling that something was threatening her, something she could not quite grasp. She then clung to Ganondorf's body next to her and was grateful for his closeness. Often she also awakened him with the soft words _mirij ri, ri-su ruad,_ for she had the feeling that she could fall asleep better when the blue light of the aura enveloped her and she could fish the sweet little memories from Ganondorf's mind while he kissed her.

Once, however, she sank into a memory that had nothing to do with her. It had happened a long time ago and was beaming in his mind almost as bright as the memories of his time with Ranalla.

2

 _He was standing in the light of the torches in front of the entrance to his room in the Fortress, and summoned up all his courage. The test fight with Letria had gone well: he had defeated her after a short time in spite of his youth, and she had come to him smiling and had kissed him on the mouth. He had just come of age, but he was already taller than her, and her tongue in his mouth had been sweet and warm, and then she had summoned him to his room in the Fortress for the next evening. At that time, he used to run the way from the Temple to the Fortress twice a day, and every day he trained his muscles with heavy weights. Since he had been doing so, many Sisters had started casting him strange, greedy glances, and on the day when he was sixteen years old, the Exalted Letria had come to him, laid the narrow, sun-shaped crown on his shoulder-length hair, and taken his hand._

 _"I have chosen you, Ganondorf Dragmire, King of the Gerudo."_

 _He knew that she was a few years older than he, and that she had already born a daughter who was now seven years old and did not live with her anymore. Somehow, that reassured him, for she would know what to do, he hoped._

 _"Sister Letria," he called quietly into the entrance to his room._

 _"Come in, Ganondorf," he heard her voice. There were no doors in the Fortress, but he had been surrounded by doors most of his life in the Temple. So he stepped into the doorway, walked around the first corner, and built a soundproof barrier between the walls with the abilities that the twin sisters had taught him. He did not want to be disturbed by curious Sisters on this special night._

 _As he stepped around the last corner, he saw Letria, who was standing in the middle of the room, waiting for him. Tentatively, he sent his magic to her and tried to caress her body, but he found only a groundless nothingness, wherein the energy seeped away like water in the sand of the desert. Letria did not seem to notice anything, and he withdrew his magic with a touch of sadness._

 _"Granij rinnan trellis, Letria," he said softly._

 _"Lissu va, ri-su ruad," she said, smiling._

 _"Before we... begin, I have a request for you," he said, reciting the words he had prepared._

 _"What is it?" she asked kindly. "You didn't get scared now, did you?"_

 _"No, Letria. Listen to me. I listened to the Sisters when they talked about the men they were with. It became clear to me that some men, although healthy and able to fight well, did not always fulfill the wishes of the Sisters. The Sisters got pregnant, but... the encounter was unsatisfying for them."_

 _Letria frowned and gestured to him to continue talking. He had hoped that she would understand what he wanted, but she seemed to want to tantalize him a little._

 _"I want you to tell me what you want, and to show me how I can fulfill your wishes."_

 _"Oh," Letria breathed, and now she smiled such a radiant smile as he'd never seen before._

 _"I am proud of you, my King," she said, "and I will gladly teach you."_

.

The rest of the memory was a frenzy of new experiences, feelings, and impressions that filled Ranalla with gratitude and respect for Letria. She had taught Ganondorf to be gentle and delicate, with the certain degree of tender determination that women desired and gladly surrendered to when they felt that they were taken seriously with their needs. She had taught him to always fulfill the wishes of women first, to pay attention to their delicate signals, and to give them pleasure with his body, without them having to explain much. This way he was able to come to his own fulfillment with the knowledge that the woman was satisfied.

3

Ganondorf loved to play with the childish, cheerful magic of the Treasure when he was in her mind during the short time of the aura, and his joy flowed like a warm wind over her body when their lips parted. That morning, she had learned who had chosen him for the first time, and when they rode to the Fortress after lunch, Ranalla was looking forward to seeing Letria. She wanted to get to know her daughter, too, because a month ago, when Ganondorf had announced her pregnancy, nothing had come of his promise to show her his daughters.

When they came through the gate of the Fortress, Letria was not there to greet them as she usually was. Instead, a young girl was standing there waiting for them. She had an elongated package in her hands, wrapped in a colorful, embroidered cloth.

 _"Granij rinnan lastis, Aryl,"_ said Ganondorf.

 _"Lissu va, ri-su ruad,"_ replied the girl.

"Where is Letria?" he asked.

"She's with Rista, Your Majesty," she said. "Rista just had her daughter."

Ranalla smiled. "May I see her, Your Majesty?" she turned to Ganondorf.

"Of course, Madam. Aryl can lead you to her if you want. Come to the practice ground afterwards."

He rode in the direction of the practice site and Ranalla descended. When she turned to Aryl, she looked into her eyes and shivered.

"How old are you, Aryl?" she asked straightforwardly.

"I am thirteen, _ri-su ruadi,"_ said the girl kindly. She seemed to be proud of Ranalla talking to her.

"Is Letria your mother?"

"Yes, _ri-su ruadi,"_ she replied.

Ranalla smiled. "Would you call me _strani Ranalla,_ Aryl?"

Aryl nodded. Ranalla looked at the package that Aryl was holding in her hands.

"What is that?" she asked curiously.

"Oh, this..." said Aryl hesitantly. "This is a gift for you, _ri-su... strani Ranalla._ Actually, it is for your son. I made it."

She offered Ranalla the package. Ranalla took it and opened the colorful cloth. She gasped in astonishment when she saw what was in it.

She found a small sword in a blue scabbard of solid leather. The scabbard was attached to a small belt, which suited a child of about ten years. She pulled the sword from the scabbard and looked at it. The hilt was made of wood and wrapped with a soft leather band. The blade was short and shining and not too long for a child's arm.

"I made it out of a long dagger," she said. "It's a real sword, _strani Ranalla._ You can even hunt sand lizards with it!"

"It's beautiful, Aryl," said Ranalla. She put the sword back into the scabbard and wrapped it in the cloth. Then she embraced Aryl, full of joy. "Thank you."

"Would you like to go to Rista now?" asked Aryl.

Ranalla nodded. Aryl led her into the Fortress and through several corridors, to a room. Standing at the entrance, she called:

"Sister Letria!"

"Come in, Aryl," she heard Rista's voice. Your mother is here with me."

"Sister Ranalla is here," said Aryl.

"She may come in, too."

In the room they found Letria, Rista, and Laira, all sitting on a bed. Rista had her newborn daughter in her arms, feeding at her breast.

"Greet the face of the sun, Sister Ranalla," said Rista. "Come and greet my daughter. Her name is _Gerti."_

 _"Cloud,"_ Ranalla translated in her mind. "That's a beautiful name," she said to Rista. She went and looked into the cute face of the baby girl, who was lying in her mother's arms, full of delight, with her eyes closed.

"Do you know already how you want to call your son?" Letria asked.

Ranalla shook her head.

"I have not thought about that yet."

Since he was a male Gerudo, he would have two names. And since he was half Sheikah, he would get a Sheikah name, she already knew. She wanted to leave the rest to Ganondorf.

"Can I talk to you, Sister Letria?" Ranalla asked.

Letria nodded. "Shall we go out?"

They both went out into the corridor, and Ranalla said:

"I would like to thank you for what you did for Ganondorf fourteen years ago. I could not have wished for a better man."

Letria smiled with the same bright smile that Ranalla had seen in his memory through Ganondorf's eyes, and then she embraced Ranalla.

"My friend Risha told me that he makes you happy at least three times a day, _ri-su ruadi."_ Letria winked at her, and Ranalla felt her cheeks warm. "I don't know how you can keep up with that," Letria continued with a serious face, "but let me assure you that we all admire you."

Ranalla opened her mouth and wanted to say something, but then she looked at Letria again and realized that she was struggling with a laugh. She giggled, and Letria laughed.

"You took the jackpot, _ri-su ruadi,"_ she said. "It would be unforgivable not to take advantage of that shamelessly."

4

When Ranalla came to the training ground, Ganondorf had just dropped his sword, while six Sisters were pointing theirs at him. When the Sisters saw her, they bowed to her and withdrew from Ganondorf. Ranalla went to him and picked up his large sword. She pretended that she wanted to give it to him, but then she stepped back two steps and stood in her fighting position.

 _"At-rovij va, ri-su ruad,"_ she said.

He gasped in surprise and looked around, but the Sisters just chuckled and held their swords.

His sword was huge, and she had to hold it with both hands. Her arms had become strong, but the sword was so long and unwieldy that she could barely swing it. Still, she jumped at him and slashed. He dodged and wanted to twist her hands with one of his quick movements, but she was prepared for that. She also dodged him, whirled around and slashed again. The sword was sharp, and there was no barrier at the edge, and she almost hit him. He jumped aside and ducked as Ranalla struck from the other side. She called her magic and supported her strength a bit, for the sword lay heavy in her hands despite her muscles. Ganondorf had stopped and looked at her defiantly. She circled him with the sword on her shoulder. Since he had no sword, only defense remained to him, and he could not attack her. Ranalla swung the huge sword in a circle and wanted to make him jump. But he ducked again, took her two arms from behind, and held them up. Quickly, his hands slid to Ranalla's wrists and held them tight so that she could no longer move the sword. Small whirls broke from his hands on her wrists, danced along her arms, disappearing under the sleeves of her tunic. She felt the familiar thrill as the whirls slipped over her breasts from behind, and she squirmed because it tickled her.

"Please, Your Majesty..." she said, giggling.

"Give me the sword, Madam," he said. Then he released one of her arms and took the sword from her hands. He laid it on the ground, then he twisted Ranalla's arm on her back and turned her around to face him. His eyes gleamed golden in the sun, and his vest had slipped aside from the movement, exposing his chest. He pressed her tightly to him, and he smelled of sand and strength, and Ranalla was aware of his stirring body against hers. She wanted to kiss him, but she wanted more.

 _"Mirij ri,"_ she whispered, hoping that he heard, but not the Sisters. With a gentle jerk she snatched her hand from him and ran away from the exercise field, down the stairs and through the hollow path. She did not hear him behind her and did not see him when she looked around. As she turned around the corner to the Gerudo Valley, she bumped into him, and immediately he threw his arms around her. He lifted her up and carried her to the edge of the ravine, then jumped down with her. They landed in the water and swam behind the waterfall, then climbed over the ladder into the niche. Ranalla waited before the barrier, trembling, until he came and grabbed her from behind and kissed her greedily. The _Feeling_ exploded within her, and she realized that her body was dry and her clothes were no longer there. Ganondorf lifted her again into his arms and put her on the bed. He was above her, and she closed her eyes, for his magic fell upon her like a warm wave.

 _Come... to me..._

He entered into her with agonizing slowness to tease her and to repay her insolent attack, and she whimpered with impatience, and at that moment she felt a movement.

Her eyes flew open and she gasped.

"Madam?" he said with a worried look.

She laughed, and he frowned in surprise.

"Is everything all right, Madam?"

 _"Juun, ri-su ruad. Rimo-su dorf at-spartil sijet. Mirij ri."_

"Are you sure, Madam?"

The question was ambiguous, but she nodded.

They made love on the hidden bed under the waterfall, and that broad grin would not leave Ranalla's face for a moment.


	25. Chapter 25

A/N: Translations of the Gerudo phrases are at the end of the chapter.  
Enjoy!

 **Chapter 25**

1

They left the ravine in the early afternoon, and Ranalla pulled Ganondorf back to the Fortress.

"I have already met two daughters," she said while they were walking along the hollow path, and she winked at him exuberantly. The child's movement in her belly had sparked an impertinent joy within her. "Now you must show me the others."

"Two?" he asked, puzzled. "How did you recognize them?"

Ranalla stopped and leaned her head to one side.

"Your Majesty," she said with a mischievous smile. "Both have your eyes. By her age, Aryl would be your first daughter, and in the rest of her face her mother could clearly be recognized. So now I know who was the first Sister who chose you. It has its advantages to be an Exalted Sister."

Ganondorf smiled and kissed her.

"And also Lenori is your daughter, Your Majesty. I already recognized her at the Sun Festival."

He raised his eyebrows approvingly.

"If this is so, then we'll make a game of it, Madam," he said, smiling. "I will lead you around and you will show me my daughters. You must find seven more."

"What about Rista's daughter? Is she one of the nine?"

Ganondorf shook his head, smiling.

"No, Madam."

"How old is your youngest daughter?" Ranalla asked.

"She should be about six years old now, Madam."

"Six years?" she repeated, puzzled. "You mean, before we met, you had not... for almost seven years..."

"Yes, Madam."

"But...

"I also set my conditions, Madam. I only wanted to be chosen by Sisters who had already given birth to a daughter or who were at least twenty-two years old. Most Sisters have their first daughter at the age of seventeen or eighteen, and only a few of them want to get pregnant more than once."

Ranalla remembered that Sirla had also told her about that.

"Why these conditions, Your Majesty?" she asked.

He shrugged.

"You know why, Madam."

Ranalla remembered the memory she had received from Ganondorf in the morning. He had sent his magic to Letria, but the lack of response had given him a painful feeling of disappointment.

"What about Risha, Soliris, Keli, and Anit?"

"Each had a daughter before, Madam."

"And Sirla?" she asked.

"She wanted to choose me for her first daughter and waited until she was twenty-two. One week before your arrival, she was twenty-two, and on the evening I found you, her body was ready."

"She waited six years for you?"

"I think she waited even eight, for she would have liked to choose me already when she was fourteen."

"And then she could not have you. If you had... that night..."

But he put a finger on her lips.

"No, Madam. I have not been waiting for you for eight years, but all my life, since I realized that I am the only being of my kind – and I realized that very early. I took your hand on the bridge because I felt that my search was over."

2

She had found them all. Nine beautiful daughters between six and thirteen years, whom she had recognized by his eyes, his lips, and his high cheekbones. Four of the older ones were the daughters of Risha, Soliris, Keli, and Anit, his four guards, whom Ranalla knew so well by now, that she recognized their features immediately in the faces of their daughters. They and Letria's daughter, Aryl, were already good sword fighters, who gave Ganondorf a hard time in a friendly sparring fight, before he surrendered playfully to them. All girls seemed to know that Ganondorf was their father, but they treated him with the same comradely respect the other Sisters did, and called him _ri-su ruad._

The youngest girl was the friend of Weri's daughter Lureli, and when Ganondorf and Ranalla entered the room where the children were taught to read and write, the two of them jumped from their seats and clung to his long legs, and he had to carry them up and down the corridor, until they released him, panting from laughter. The teacher was a young Sister who looked at Ganondorf with dreamy eyes, and when Ranalla gave him an examining look, he kissed her and whispered:

"She's pregnant, Madam. The Sisters always have this look when they are in the first months."

The last three girls were nine years old and resembled each other almost like triplets, and she learned that their mothers had all chosen Ganondorf in the same month. One of them was Blir, the guard who had held Ranalla's arms on the bridge together with Laira. Ranalla had already met Blir's daughter Lenori at the Sun Festival, and had recognized her immediately.

"It was hard work, Madam, because they almost fought against each other," Ganondorf said. "Fortunately, I was in the Fortress at that time, and could separate them and promise that each of them... well..."

He broke off, embarrassed, and Ranalla smiled with pride and joy that these things were over now, because for the rest of his life he would belong to her alone.

One day, a group of Sisters came back from Hyrule Castle Town, and they reported that King Nohansen's wife was pregnant. Ranalla was a little uncomfortable at the thought that the Sisters could speak about her in the city, but they said that no one had believed them that their king's wife was Sheikah and magically gifted. Ganondorf had told her that except for the King and Impa, only a few people outside the desert actually believed in his own magical gift, and he had seemed quite all right with that.

Despite her pregnancy, Ganondorf did not spare her. He continued to practice sword fighting with her every day and had her do strength and stamina training together with him. She even had to run with him every day, and during the exercises with the bow on Druja's back she hit all twenty targets more often than before. Once, when she came back proudly from her round on Druja, Sirla was waiting for her on her horse at the starting point. Ranalla was a little frightened, for she had not seen Sirla on the training ground for a long time.

"You've learned, Sheikah," Sirla said approvingly. "Have you ever tried to ride the round the other way around?"

Ranalla was stunned. She had never come up with this idea, but had only been riding clockwise, because Ganondorf had shown it to her in the beginning, and all the other Sisters were riding it this way.

She shook her head, and Sirla raised her eyebrows and gestured to her with her head to try. Ganondorf returned her arrows grinning, and Ranalla started the round counterclockwise. She had to shoot to the other side and it was so unfamiliar to her that she had not hit a single target when she came back.

"That was not nice, Sirla," said Ganondorf, smiling.

"Ha!" she cried, took her bow, and pushed her thighs into the sides of her horse. She rode at a gallop counterclockwise and hit one target after another. With a triumphant smile, she came back to Ranalla, who shook her head in amazement.

"Do not worry, Sheikah," she said. "You can do it. You're the only one who has learned to play the ocarina. All the other Sisters gave it back to me after three days, because their fingers were too sluggish." She had her horse come to Ranalla, then she leaned toward her and whispered at her ear.

"Your lips are sweet like honey, Sheikah."

Ranalla shuddered, and Sirla retreated. She looked into Ranalla's eyes and winked at her, then she rode away laughing.

Ranalla looked confusedly at Ganondorf, who shook his head, giggling. She pointed uncomprehendingly with her hands at the targets, but he just shrugged. Ranalla frowned and gestured silently with her finger to the start of the course. Ganondorf took his bow and rode counterclockwise. Like Sirla, he hit every target, and she snorted frustrated when he came back to her.

"What did you say, Your Majesty?" she asked. "It took you three years to learn it?"

"Yes, Madam," he said. "Just like you, I needed three months to learn the round clockwise. The rest of the time I needed to learn it counterclockwise. I think, besides me and Nabooru, Sirla is currently the only Sister who manages to hit all targets in both directions."

"Why is it so difficult?" she asked.

"Because you have to twist your body on the horse to shoot in the other direction. It is easier to exchange the arms for the bow and the string. As you are right-handed, and your right eye is stronger, you shoot, while your right arm stretches the string. If you want to shoot to the other side, it's better if you stretch with your left arm. However, you should then take into account the deviation that results from the weaker eye when aiming."

"How long did Sirla practice until she managed?" Ranalla asked.

"She began when she was fourteen, when she wanted to _Choose_ me. I was then as old as she is now, and I had just managed to hit all the targets counterclockwise. She was impressed and immediately began to train. When she was eighteen, I saw for the first time how she hit all the targets counter-clockwise."

Ranalla was overwhelmed. Sirla had admired Ganondorf and had wanted to impress him with her abilities. Silently, she also admired Sirla and tried to imagine how she herself would feel if she had not gotten Ganondorf after she had fallen for him at their first encounter. It was a painful feeling, and she had an idea now of what Sirla must have felt.

"Do you want me to learn it, Your Majesty?" she asked.

"No, Madam. I do not insist. But if you want to impress Sirla, I'll show you how to do it."

"That was her revenge, wasn't it?" said Ranalla.

Ganondorf nodded.

"I'll never make it," she said sadly. "She is better than me in every respect."

He had his horse come close to her, then he pulled her face to him and kissed her.

"She cannot sing," he said.

3

 _"Ri-su ruad!"_

Ganondorf turned his head, and Ranalla's sword hit him on the shoulder. He bit his teeth together in pain and anger at the disturbance. Before the fight, Ranalla had protected the edge of her sword with a barrier and was relieved that she had not hurt Ganondorf any worse.

A few days after Sirla's triumphant demonstration, Ganondorf had decided to leave the archery targets for the time being, and instead to practice sword fighting on horseback. Ranalla guessed that he wanted to protect her from Sirla's mocking comments, and she was grateful to him.

Letria was standing at the entrance to the practice site, breathing heavily.

"Excuse me," she said, coming closer, while Ganondorf rubbed his shoulder and put his sword in the sheath on his saddle.

"It's all right, Letria," he said. "What's happened?"

Ranalla also put her sword in the sheath and waited for Letria to explain why she had interrupted her lesson.

"It's Lyris," Letria said. "She has come back!"

Ranalla did not understand at first, but then she gasped as she remembered the name of the Sister who had left with the son of the chief of the Sand People.

 _"Oh-oh,"_ said Ganondorf. "Is she alone?"

Letria slowly shook her head. "No, _ri-su ruad."_

"Where are they now?"

"In front of the bridge. Sirla was on guard, and there was... well... a small mishap."

Ganondorf frowned.

"What does that mean?"

"Maybe it's better if you have a look yourself, _ri-su ruad,"_ Letria said, smiling.

"All right," said Ganondorf, then turned to Ranalla.

"Madam, I want you to wait here until I come back."

He turned Sardun and galloped from the practice site. His four guards, who had come to the practice site without their horses and had waited at a distance, followed him.

Letria had already turned to follow Ganondorf as well, but Ranalla rode after her.

"What happened?" she asked as she reached Letria.

"Lyris has brought her family, _ri-su ruadi,"_ Letria answered.

 _Her family?_

Ranalla had to see that!

She pushed Druja, hurried past Letria into the courtyard of the Fortress and took the detour to the hollow path that led to the Gerudo Valley. Ganondorf had probably already reached the bridge because she did not see him anymore. She galloped past his guards, who were running along the hollow path, but she slowed as she stepped out into the Valley with Druja. Ganondorf had left his horse beside the entrance to the hollow path, had put on his sword belt, and was walking to the bridge. When he heard Druja's hooves, he stopped and turned to Ranalla. Ranalla stopped Druja next to Sardun and descended, then ran to Ganondorf.

"You promised to wait for me on the training ground," he said sternly, but Ranalla shook her head.

"I did not, Your Majesty," she said. "Please forgive me, but I do not want to miss this for anything in the world."

He snorted softly.

"At least stay behind the barrier, Madam. Please, promise me."

"Yes, Your Majesty," said Ranalla. If he did not touch her, she did not come through the barrier anyway...

He took her hand and went with her to the invisible barrier in front of the bridge, and there Ranalla contemplated the picture before her eyes.

Three large horses of Sardun's race and a smaller horse were standing on the other side of the Valley, beyond the ravine, in front of the bridge. In front of them were three tall men with dark hair and a woman with the red hair of the Gerudo, as well as four little girls with red hair. On the stairs on the other side of the bridge sat Sirla, and Laira was sitting behind her and had wrapped her legs around Sirla's body. Two other Sisters were sitting at Sirla's sides, holding her arms. Sirla twitched again and again, trying to free herself, while she railed at Laira and the other guards and growled in frustration.

Ranalla gasped and had to suppress a laugh as she remembered the evening when she had been sitting tied just like Sirla on the very steps before her.

Poor Sirla. What had happened?

Ganondorf's guards arrived and stopped behind Ranalla. He let go of Ranalla's hand, descended the steps, and crossed the bridge.

Suddenly, one of the three strangers left the group on the other side, climbed over the four Sisters on the steps and ran across the bridge toward Ganondorf. With a hissing sound, Ganondorf drew his sword and stood in his way, but the man dodged and ran past him. As he approached, Ranalla saw that his gaze was fixed upon herself, and she retreated timidly.

"Quiet, _ri-su ruadi,"_ she heard Risha's voice behind her. "He cannot harm you." Relieved, she remembered that she was standing behind the barrier, which he could not pass.

The man climbed the steps hastily - and bumped against the barrier. Ranalla looked at Ganondorf, who had stopped and turned to her. The man had fallen to the ground from the unexpected impact, but he rose, not leaving Ranalla out of his sight for a moment. He approached the barrier carefully with his arms outstretched. When he felt it, he nodded slowly, then dropped his arms and fell to his knees before Ranalla.

 _"Rinnaju va, ganis mire,"_ he said, lowering his head.

 _I see you, Darling of the Goddess._

Amazed, Ranalla recognized the old, respectful greeting Ganondorf had taught her.

 _"Gerudo prelijes?"_ she asked.

He nodded.

 _"Juun, ganis mire,"_ he replied, but his head stayed down.

 _"Riit, rinnaj ri,"_ she said kindly.

Slowly, he raised his head and looked into her eyes. Already as he had passed Ganondorf, Ranalla had noticed that he was just as tall, but he had darker skin and bright blue eyes. His equally dark hair was artfully woven into many small braids that fell over his shoulders. Small, colorful feathers and glittering pearls adorned the braids, and in his pointed ears were several small rings of shining metal. He had a young, noble face with masculine features and well-shaped lips, and under his bright tunic Ranalla could guess strong muscles.

He was so beautiful that she could not help smiling.

 _"Nestir sijes?"_ she asked him curiously.

He put his right hand on his chest and bowed.

 _"Skyr, ganis mire,"_ he replied.

Ranalla gasped in amazement as she recognized the name, but the next moment she heard Sirla's scream and looked to the other side of the bridge, frightened. Sirla had torn herself free from all three Sisters who had been holding her, and was hurrying over the bridge. The Sisters pursued her as she ran with a fierce expression on her face, past Ganondorf and toward Ranalla. Surprised, Ranalla saw how Ganondorf held back the three Sisters. She called her magic and prepared to build her own barrier, because she knew that Ganondorf's barrier would not stop Sirla.

When Sirla had reached the stairs, she stopped and looked consecutively at all four guards behind Ranalla. Slowly, she climbed the steps and stood between Ranalla and Skyr. With a gloomy face, she stared at Ranalla, and Ranalla recognized with horror the look she had seen in Sirla's glowing eyes during her fight against her. It was the look of the _Viss..._

Sirla raised her chin in the air and took a deep breath, then she slowly raised her hand and put it through the barrier, onto Ranalla's chest. With a jerk, she pushed Ranalla backwards, and Ranalla staggered as she struggled for her balance.

 _"At-nentrij va-su revin at elt, Sheikah!"_ she growled when Ranalla had recovered. _"Staran ri-su sijet. Nal at-nentrijes elt at ri!"_

Then she turned to Skyr and took his hand.

Skyr was still kneeling, and gazed, stunned, at Sirla's hand holding his own. He looked questioningly at Ranalla as if to ask for her approval.

 _"Dernij ban elti,"_ she said to him and smiled. _"Nentrij va-su mirin elti."_

 _"Darit, ganis mire,"_ he said with a slight bow and rose.

Sirla gave Ranalla a triumphant look, then she dragged Skyr down the steps over the bridge. She stopped before Ganondorf and took his sword from his hand. He let it happen with a smile, and Sirla went on with Skyr. On the other side of the bridge, Skyr went to his horse and took a large sword from his saddle. He went with Sirla a bit farther, and then they began to fight against each other.

 _"Ri-su ruad..."_ Ranalla called softly.

Ganondorf came to her, took her hand and led her through the barrier.

"There your two swords are fighting against each other, Your Majesty," she said while she crossed the bridge with Ganondorf.

"Yes, Madam," he said smiling, and nodded. "Now it will be seen whether Skyr appreciated my gift."

They went to the other guests to greet them. At first Ganondorf gave his hand to the older man, then to the younger one.

"Welcome, my friends," he said to both men in Hylian, then he went to the woman and hugged her briefly.

"Welcome back, Lyris," he said in Gerudo to her.

"Thank you, _ri-su ruad,"_ Lyris said, and then she looked curiously at Ranalla.

"You're Sheikah, aren't you?" she said kindly. "The Rislan worship the Sheikah, for they are the people chosen by the Goddess to whom she granted the Gift of Magic. So far they believed that there was only that last survivor whom they saw at the court of King Nohansen. But Skyr has never been there, and you were the first Sheikah he saw."

Ranalla smiled.

"I'm Ranalla," she said.

Ganondorf had taken her hand again, and Lyris seemed to have understood what that meant, for she did not ask. Instead, she turned to Ganondorf.

"I came to ask for the right to return to the community, _ri-su ruad._ I bring my four daughters, whom I conceived from my companion Nartil. He loves them very much, but he has realized that I can only give birth to daughters, and my daughters will also give birth to daughters, and his people fear that their tribe would also become a tribe of women. He has therefore asked me for the permission to father other children with a woman of his people, for he needs an heir."

Ganondorf looked at the two men.

"What do you say, Tral?" he addressed the older of the two in Hylian.

"It is as my daughter says," the man replied in fluent Gerudo. "We believe that she is best off here, with her people, and we have decided together with her to undertake this journey. She has taught us her language and told us about the Code of her people, and thanks to her instruction, our people have become strong and healthy. We are deeply in her debt, and my son would never let her go if I did not urge him."

Ganondorf looked at Nartil, who had taken the hands of his two older daughters, whom Ranalla estimated to be about seven and eight years old, while the two younger girls clung to his legs.

"Lyris is the best woman a man can wish for, _ri-su ruad,"_ he said in Gerudo. "I will miss my daughters terribly, and I would like to ask you for the possibility to visit them from time to time."

Ganondorf nodded, and Ranalla saw Nartil sigh in relief.

"Many of our young men have become curious about the beautiful women of the Gerudo," Tral said. "My daughter Lyris told them that all her Sisters have hair as long as hers, and if you agree, I would like to advise our men to pay a visit to the Gerudo women."

Ganondorf turned his gaze to Sirla and Skyr, who were still fighting at some distance.

"If the men of your people are like your young son Skyr," he said, turning back to the chief, "the Gerudo would be glad to welcome them, Chief Tral."

There was a loud clang as Ganondorf's sword flew from Sirla's hand and slithered over the rocky ground, and they all turned to the fighting couple. Skyr was standing there, holding Sirla's arm on her back and his sword at her throat. But after a moment, he threw the sword to the ground, turned her to himself with a skillful movement, and kissed her.

"His hair has grown," said Ganondorf, and Skyr's father and brother nodded, smiling.

Ranalla saw Sirla clinging to the body of the tall man as he kissed her, and a deep relief settled over her mind. She was happy for Sirla, and she was glad that this fight had finally come to an end.

4

The guests stayed for another few days in the Fortress, and the four new girls were a curiosity as they all had the same father and mother. Although the Gerudo Code did not allow this, Lyris and her four daughters were welcomed by the community. Ranalla guessed that the Sisters were glad that Sirla had finally chosen a man, and therefore no one insisted on the Code.

Ganondorf allowed Sirla and Skyr to use his room in the Fortress in order to be together undisturbed, and the next morning they were seen walking hand in hand through the Fortress. Sirla was so proud and happy that she even came to Ranalla at breakfast and apologized to her for pushing her. During the whole time the Rislan stayed in the Fortress, she carried her sword on her back, threatening with it every Sister who dared to approach Skyr.

Finally, the three men took leave of the Sisters and rode off on their big dark horses. Sirla's fixation on Ganondorf seemed to have completely vanished through the encounter with Skyr, for as he rode over the bridge with his brother and his father, Sirla pursued him with a longing gaze, and Ranalla felt compassion for her.

"He'll be back in two months, Sirla," she said, to comfort Sirla. "He will be the leader of the men of the _Rislan,_ because he knows the way to the Fortress. You will be pregnant by then, and you can be with him every day as long as they stay."

Together with Letria, Ganondorf, Lyris, and her four sobbing daughters, they were standing at the end of the bridge, watching the three tall men disappear behind the bend in the road through the rocks.

With an almost wistful smile, Sirla looked at Ranalla, who was standing beside her with Ganondorf holding her hand.

"I never thought I would ever say this to you, Sheikah," she said. "But – thanks. It will be hard to protect him from the other Sisters."

"Not if nineteen others of his kind are wandering about in the Fortress," said Ganondorf. "I can see it before my eyes. There will be bloodshed when these youths turn up here in two months..."

Ranalla looked frightened into his eyes, but he winked at her with a mischievous smile and leaned toward her.

"Once inside the barrier, they can only get out again if I lead them," he whispered in her ear. "And I will not let them go until every single Sister is satisfied."

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

A/N: Translations of the Gerudo phrases

 _Rinnaju va, ganis mire. - I see you, Darling of the Goddess.  
Gerudo prelijes?_ _\- You speak Gerudo?  
Juun, ganis mire. - Yes, Darling of the Goddess.  
 _Riit, rinnaj ri. - Please, look at me.  
__ _Nestir sijes? - Who are you?  
Skyr, ganis mire. - (I am) Skyr, Darling of the Goddess.  
_ _At-nentrij va-su revin at elt, Sheikah! - Take your hand off him, Sheikah!  
_ _Staran ri-su sijet. Nal at-nentrijes elt at ri! - This man is mine. You will not take him (away) from me!  
_ _Dernij ban elti. - Go to her.  
Nentrij va-su mirin elti. - Give her your love.  
Darit, ganis mire. - Thank you, Darling of the Goddess.  
_


	26. Chapter 26

A/N: Thanks to all readers from all over the world who bore with me until now!  
Enjoy Chapter 26.

 **Chapter 26**

1

The treasure in Ranalla's belly grew, and soon the two tunics Nabooru had given her no longer fit her. But she did not want to wear the revealing tops of the desert garb of the Gerudo, which would show her belly, so one day Ganondorf brought her to the Sisters who were responsible for the clothing store.

"Come to the practice ground afterwards, Madam," he said, leaving her to the Sisters.

Ranalla tried on different pieces and chose a short, wide-cut Hylian garment that she could wear over her desert pantaloons until the end of her pregnancy. She thanked the Sisters and headed to the training area, where she was to practice sword fighting on horseback again with Ganondorf.

As she stepped out of the Fortress with her new garment, she did not see her horse, and assumed that Ganondorf had taken it to the practice ground. She went to the left to circle the Fortress, and it was the first time that she was walking alone and on foot to the practice site in daylight. As she walked, she looked at the Fortress and tried to determine where the various entrances led as she passed them. When she came to the last entrance, she stopped, puzzled, for she could not remember ever having passed through this doorway.

On the left side of the opening, she saw a broad, wooden box, and on the other side was its narrower counterpart. She wondered what it was all about.

A Sister, whose name Ranalla knew, rode past her on her horse on the way to the practice site. It was the guard that had held the dagger to Ranalla's throat on the bridge back then...

"Where does this entrance lead, Sister Niala?" Ranalla asked her kindly.

"Oh, this is an old wing of the Fortress, _ri-su ruadi,_ " Niala replied. "I think the old twin sisters, who now live in the Temple, used to live there. Nowadays, no one lives in it anymore, but we sometimes use it as a dungeon when we have prisoners."

Ranalla's heart pounded as she remembered the passionate dream she had had back then, many months ago.

"And this box?" she asked further, pointing to the wide structure on the left side of the entrance. "What is it good for?"

"It contains a cross gate, _ri-su ruadi,"_ Niala replied politely. "You can pull it out and fix it to the other side of the entrance."

"Thank you, Sister Niala," said Ranalla. Niala rode on and Ranalla remained alone.

 _The gate!_

In the silence of her dream, she had heard the sound of the gate droning through the corridors of the dungeon. Each time, she had awoken with fright from the light sleep that the chains on her arms allowed her, when she leaned against the cold wall behind her. With a mixture of horror and excitement, she remembered how Ganondorf had come to her in her dream.

The entrance exerted a mysterious, captivating attraction on her, and as if in a trance, she stepped through the dark opening.

The daylight shone through small, fist-sized holes in the walls into the cool, dark corridor. After a short time, her eyes had adapted to the dim light, and she noticed the large latticed niches on her right, which probably had served as cells. In each grating, there was a door, but they all were pushed aside.

Ranalla went on, trying to remember the path she was walking. She examined all the junctions in the corridors and found more cells, all empty and open. When she came to the last corridor, she found a new branch at the far end, which led into a dark passage. There was a torch stand beside the entrance to the passage, but Ranalla had not taken a torch. She stared intensely into the darkness, but could not see anything. After a few moments, she took heart and stepped into the corridor. Here, the light-holes in the walls were missing, and Ranalla realized that the walls were not built of reddish stones like the other corridors, but the passage had been cut directly into the rock.

Soon her eyes had grown accustomed to the still deeper darkness in there, such that she could see the faintest gleam of light. She realized that she was not standing in a corridor, but in a large room with a vaulted ceiling of rock.

To her right she saw something shining. As she approached, she identified another grate before a niche, and a torch stand next to it. The door was open, and Ranalla entered the cell. Something hard and tingling bumped against her forehead, and she looked up, frightened. It was a chain that was hanging from the ceiling, and she almost had to close her eyes when a fine, bright light beam from up there met her eyes.

Her gasp echoed from the empty walls as she recognized the place. In the stone ceiling above the cell was a tiny gap through which daylight fell. In the dim light, she saw another chain, and as she stretched out her arms, she could just reach both chains with her hands. Fascinated, she leaned against the cold, rough wall behind her, and the images of her dream passed before her inner eye.

Had the twin sisters planned that Ganondorf lock her up here? Why?

She lit a small, blue flame in her hand with her magic and looked around the cell. Something in the wall behind her attracted her attention, and as she turned and looked, she gasped again in amazement. On the back wall of the cell she saw many small crystals glittering in the light of her magical flame.

Surprised, she looked at the little lights, for she had the impression of recognizing something familiar in them, a pattern she knew. As she searched for the right association in her mind, she suddenly heard a sound that made her shudder, for it was the same sound she had heard in her dream: sand crunching under heavy boots. Frightened, she lost concentration and her flame went out. In the sudden darkness she could not see anything, but she heard the steps that were moving over the stone floors, and just as in her dream, the light of a torch approached.

Ganondorf was seeking her. He went into the corridors, and she heard the grating in front of the cells clink from his steps. Should she call for him? His steps sounded through the empty corridors and gave a multiple echo, and she could not tell where he was. If she called him, he might hear her, but he would still have to look for her. So she decided to remain quiet and wait until he found her. He was good at finding things...

The glimmer of the torch appeared on the wall, and a fierce desire seized her as she remembered how he had kissed her without warning in her dream, and then had just _taken_ her. With a beating heart, she waited for him to turn around the corner. He entered the room with the torch and immediately saw her in the cell.

"Madam?" he said softly. "What are you doing here?"

She could not answer. He approached the grate and put the torch into the stand next to it, then he came into her cell and stepped close to her. Her gaze fell on the strong muscles of his arms before her, and his skin glimmered in the light of the torch. She breathed heavily, for she felt his warmth in the cool cell, and she wanted him to...

She felt his finger under her chin that lifted her face so he could look into her eyes. She saw his puzzled expression and formed the words _andryl mi_ with her lips, for she did not want these cold walls to hear what she said.

"Here?" she heard his soft whisper, and his hand went to her neck, and intertwined with her hair.

She nodded, and then she closed her eyes as she felt his magic and his warm lips pressing firmly upon hers. As he kissed her, she felt his hand come to her hip, and he opened the clasp on the low waistband of her Gerudo pantaloons with skillful fingers. This time she was not shackled, and when the fine cloth had fallen, she pulled her feet out of her boots and reached for that certain spot of his body, which had already hardened from the kiss and the touch of her skin. He moaned softly, and she opened the closure and released the object of her desire.

"Hold on tight, Madam," his voice whispered at her ear, and the overwhelming parallel with the memory of her dream took her breath away. Already he had lifted her up. Panting, she put her legs around his body and felt him penetrate her. He took a step forward and her back met the glittering wall behind her. Despite her arched belly under the wide Hylian shirt, she felt him arrive deep inside her, and he kissed her, and she put her arms around his neck. She answered his kiss with greed, and she had completely forgotten the _Feeling_ that rushed through her body like a wild, furious fire. She whimpered under his lips as he thrust again into her and pressed her back against the wall. Already after a few more thrusts she felt the warm waves of his fulfillment approaching, and a moment later he lifted his lips from hers to trigger the _Feeling again._ He hit the right moment, and his climax along with his stream poured into her body like a blissful flash of lightning, and her scream echoed from the dark walls illuminated by the flickering light of the torches. Twitching, he held her tight, and she clung to him with the new muscles in her legs in a frenzy of joy.

As he kissed her again, a profound gratitude spread in her mind, and she realized that the feelings of helplessness and subjection – despite her desire – that had accompanied her memory of the dream until now, they had vanished. This time, in reality, she had induced and controlled the encounter herself, and he had willingly fulfilled her wish without questioning it.

2

"Are you all right, Madam?" he asked her as the wave of the _Feeling_ from the last kiss had passed. She nodded gratefully, and in the light of the blue aura that had risen from their bodies, she stroked his long hair, which fell on his back. She would have liked to send her mind to his, but he kissed her neck while holding her, and asked:

"Will you tell me what you were doing here, Madam?"

"Outside, I saw the box of the cross gate, and it reminded me of the dream that Koume introduced into my mind. In my dream I was here, in this cell, Your Majesty. I recognized it by that crack up there – can you see it? My arms were shackled with these chains, and you came to me at night, and..."

He looked at her questioningly as she broke off.

"Did I... hurt you, Madam?" he asked cautiously.

She shook her head and smiled. "No, Your Majesty. It was just... unexpected. In my dream, I was afraid of you in the beginning, but when you sent me your magic, I wanted you. Do you have any idea why Koume might have sent me this dream?"

Ganondorf chuckled, and for a moment she heard only the crackling of the torch, which was reinforced by the echo on the bare, dark walls.

"I think she gave you her own dream, Madam," he said softly. "As I grew older, she started to make suggestive remarks, especially as the Sisters began to choose me. I had the impression that it bothered her when I sometimes went to the Fortress and did not come back until the morning..."

Ranalla raised her eyebrows and giggled.

"She... she wanted to be... seduced by you...? Here, in this cell?"

He shrugged. "They lived in this wing before they took me in the Temple, Madam. I suspected they also had a secret laboratory where they made experiments, but when we moved to the Temple, I could not find out more."

He retreated slowly and put Ranalla down, then he closed his trousers and picked up hers to help her dress.

"Was it perhaps in this room here?" Ranalla asked as she put her feet into the leg openings he held for her. "It is not bricked, but it is cut out of the rock. Perhaps they wanted to be quite sure that no one would know anything about what they were doing..."

Ganondorf closed her pantaloons and straightened.

"That is possible, Madam," he said, and while she put on her boots, Ranalla saw him frown at the wall behind her. He stepped back a few steps until he touched the grating with his back. Ranalla stood next to him, and he put his arm around her shoulders. The reddish light of the torch broke in the little crystals that were fixed on the wall.

"It's a pattern," she said. "But I don't know from where I know it."

"But I do," said Ganondorf, shaking his head softly. "This is Kotake's creative vein."

He approached the wall and pointed at a group of three crystals, which lay side by side in an oblique line. "Look at these three crystals, Madam, and those two up here and the two down here. Do you recognize this pattern?"

"The Hunter!" Ranalla whispered.

"Exactly, Madam," said Ganondorf. "The arrangement of the crystals is not random. They show the starry sky as one can see it from here."

"But why?" said Ranalla in surprise. "Down here it's always dark, and nobody sees this work of art. Why bother so much?"

"The twin sisters are not stupid, Madam," said Ganondorf. "They are old and ugly and evil, but they are not stupid. If they built this structure here, it happened for a reason."

He stepped back again and looked at the starry sky on the wall.

"Don't be afraid, Madam," he said, taking Ranalla's hand and extinguishing the torch with a flick of his other hand. In the sudden darkness, he drew Ranalla to himself and sought her lips.

"Close your eyes," he breathed, then he kissed her, and Ranalla clung to him as the _Feeling_ made her whimper again under his lips. As he pulled away from her and she opened her eyes, they had adapted to the darkness.

"Look there, Madam," she heard Ganondorf's soft voice, and he gently pulled her to the wall with the crystals. Down, near the ground, she saw a bright spot drawn by the fine beam of light that entered through the crack in the ceiling.

"There must be a time when the sun is shining through the gap, drawing a much brighter spot than this one," he said.

He leaned down and put a finger on the bright spot on the wall. "I'm going to light the torch again, Madam."

She closed her eyes, then the red of the torch shone through her eyelids. After a few moments, she opened her eyes. Ganondorf's finger was still on the place where the bright spot had been.

"The Hunter is a winter constellation, Madam," he said. "But the sun is necessary to draw a bright spot on the wall, and to make one of the crystals glow. We now have spring, but the arrangement of the stars on this wall shows the sky, as we can see it around midnight at the time of the winter solstice. Exactly half a year later, at the time of the summer solstice, this part of the sky is covered by the sun, and we cannot see those stars. I guess that at the summer solstice – on the Sun's Day – the sun shines exactly through the gap at midday, and the beam falls on a crystal higher up on this wall. That crystal is the key."

"To the laboratory, Your Majesty?" Ranalla asked excitedly.

"Yes, Madam. And as I know Kotake, she would choose a _special_ star in her excessive arrogance, namely..."

From the point where he had held it, Ganondorf's finger wandered up to a certain crystal a little farther to the left, below the Hunter.

"...this one, the brightest star in the Hunter's Great Dog, which is also the brightest star in our sky." He pressed it, and Ranalla gasped as the crystal disappeared in the wall.

3

When Ganondorf raised his finger, the crystal returned to its position. A faint hiss sounded, and on the wall with the crystals appeared an irregular, fine line, that shone bluish. The hissing continued, and the line became wider until Ranalla noticed that there were two. They were slowly sliding apart, and a surge of cool air blew through the thin fabric of her trousers.

"Wait here, Madam," said Ganondorf, and went out through the door of the cell. He took the torch from the stand next to the grate and came back to her. The blue lines were already so far apart that Ranalla could have put her foot between them easily. In the light of the torch she saw that the lines were the edges of two parts of the wall were separating. After a while the hissing ceased, and a gap had formed in the wall.

The space was so narrow that they could only pass through one by one. Ganondorf went ahead with the torch and Ranalla followed him. But as she stepped between the two walls, she had a peculiar feeling. Her magic trembled, and she felt nausea rising inside her.

"Your Majesty..." she said, then she felt Ganondorf's hand pulling her into the room.

"There's a barrier, Madam," she heard his voice, then she felt his arm on her back.

"Is everything all right?" he asked.

Ranalla could not answer, because she had to swallow hard, feeling her stomach rebel. It was dark in front of her eyes and she shook her head.

Something was wrong. She knew this feeling, but she did not remember where she had felt it. There was also this nagging certainty that something with this barrier was different than usual, something that escaped her.

He held her tight as she struggled with dizziness, and in the light of the torch he had placed in a bracket beside the crack in the wall, her gaze slowly grew clear again.

"Do you want to go back, Madam?" he asked, looking at her anxiously.

"It's all right now, Your Majesty," she said. Nausea still stirred inside her, but she wanted to see what the room contained.

As she looked around, she saw a lot of things. There were two empty beds, several cupboards, tables and chairs, as well as chests, baskets and jugs, arranged on the shelves and on the floor. On the walls hung large maps, posters with different inscriptions, and painted or drawn pictures. On the tables lay books, loose papers, measuring instruments and other devices, and on other shelves were bottles and cans of glass and metal.

"Would you like to sit down, Madam?" Ganondorf asked, pointing to one of the chairs as she had to swallow hard to soothe her stomach. "I would like to examine the books and chests."

Ranalla shook her head.

"Just go on, Your Majesty," she said.

He withdrew hesitantly from her and went to the books on the tables. Ranalla approached the walls and looked with fascination at the pictures. Some of them displayed paintings of landscapes and buildings that she did not know, others were illustrations of plants and animals that she had never seen before. On a large picture, which was simply nailed to the wall without a frame, she saw a hand drawing of two beautiful, tall Gerudo Sisters who had the same face. One Sister bore a red gem on her forehead, the other a white one. Their long, red hair was tied in the style of the Gerudo, with a clasp, into a high ponytail. Both wore white pantaloons with a deep waistband and a short, dark top. The drawing showed them against the background of the Fortress, and they were smiling cheerfully at the viewer.

Ranalla felt Ganondorf stepping behind her.

"White trousers," he remarked. "They obviously belonged to the Elite." He shook his head gently. "This must be a picture of happier days. In the Temple I have never seen such pictures."

"They were very beautiful," said Ranalla. "Why do they have this bizarre shape now?"

"I do not know, Madam," he replied. "I only know them in this shape, but this picture suggests that it was not always so. There must have been a moment when everything changed. Even the beds here..." he continued, pointing to the two empty frames that stood side by side on the wall, "I've never seen them sleep or eat. As far as I know, there are no beds in their rooms in the Temple."

Ranalla let her gaze wander over the things in the room.

"Would you like to take the books with you, Your Majesty?" she asked. "Perhaps we can find a hint of what they're up to."

"No, Madam," said Ganondorf. "The books on the tables only contain plans for strange constructions that look like traps and torture devices. In some there are also reports of eerie experiments and rituals, which they have obviously carried out here. I do not want to have anything to do with that."

His gaze came back to the picture on the wall.

"A long time ago, they were apparently beautiful, and perhaps kind and friendly, but the centuries they have lived in this shape have obviously changed their nature. They kidnapped you and wanted to hurt you, and they have certainly done more terrible things."

He pointed to the objects that filled the room.

"The chests are all empty, and the devices on the shelves are damaged. I think that they took everything that was of value to them into the Temple. Come on, let us leave. I do not want you to stay in this room when you're not well. Besides, I want to get back to daylight."

He took Ranalla's hand and pulled her to the crack. As he took the torch out of the holder, Ranalla hesitated, fearing that she would be dizzy when she walked through the barrier...

Suddenly she realized what had surprised her before. It was a barrier of the twin sisters, and all their barriers were evil and painful. But not this one.

"Why did it let me pass?" she asked.

"Because it's not a barrier against intruders, Madam," Ganondorf replied. "It is similar to the ones I'm using to protect the fruit and the eggs of the sand lizards from spoiling."

And with these words she also recognized the feeling she had felt when she had entered the barrier.

"You... you take them out of Time, am I right, Your Majesty?"

"Yes, Madam, I..."

He broke off when he seemed to remember something.

"It is a spell the twins have taught me. I have never thought about it, but now that you get to the point, I realize that I'm doing exactly that, Madam. Within the barrier time does not pass, so the fruit remains as it was when we picked it."

It was the same feeling she had felt when the Goddess had taken her out of the world. Out of the world – and out of time itself. In this room, time passed differently – or not at all. So _this_ was how they had managed to live for four hundred years...

Why did they move into the Temple with Ganondorf? They did not want the Sisters to come into the Temple and had therefore built the burning barrier. Was there perhaps such a room in the Temple as well?

Ganondorf, who was still holding her hand, went through the gap and pulled her out behind him. This time, the barrier caused her only slight dizziness, and Ganondorf embraced her with his free arm when she had to lean against him for a moment.

"Why did the twins keep this barrier, Your Majesty?" she asked, finding her balance again.

"They probably thought they would need this room again some day, Madam. Since it is not in time, it is a good starting point for time travel. They probably used it to bring me the books from the future."

With the torch, he found the crystal with the switch and pressed on it, and the wall closed with the same hissing sound as before, until there was no sign of the gap anymore.

As she went outside through the dark corridors at Ganondorf's hand, Ranalla thought of the two beautiful women she had seen in the picture. To what time had they traveled? And what had happened to them? Was it the influence of the Daemon that had turned them into the ugly, mischievous beings they were now?


	27. Chapter 27

**Chapter 27**

1

"What do you want to do?"

"Be quiet, or they will hear us!"

"We have the shield, Kotake!"

"But they could wake up anyway, and at least the King can feel us if he looks for us."

"So what? We are stronger than him!"

"But if he closes his mind, we cannot find out anything. I want to investigate what's going on with her. It takes too long. She should be a lot further along!"

Ranalla was hovering above the bed where the woman was lying in the arms of the beautiful man. The two ugly birds that had done such terrible things to the woman circled the bed on their broomsticks and landed on the ground. Both were surrounded by a transparent shell with waving red and white streaks. The one with the white gem on its head put a hand on the man's forehead and closed its protruding eyes.

"Well, did you find something?" the other one asked curiously.

"Be quiet, Koume, you're disturbing me. He has built something... something pretty. A mirror shield! He has used feathers of the Ren-Bird for it! Where does he have them from?"

"I also want to try, Kotake. Let me look at the woman. Her mind was beaming bright when I was in there..."

"We have designed the drug for nine months, but those are soon over and her belly is much too small. Find out when the child will be born, but hold back with your lusty dreams."

"Yes, yes, all right," Ranalla heard the bird with the red gem murmur, and then it grimaced behind the back of the other bird. It put its bony hand on the woman's forehead and closed its eyes.

"Can you see anything?" asked the face with the white gem after a while. "I can find nothing more here, he is just dreaming of how he..." She shuddered in disgust. "Ah, I cannot concentrate."

"That's odd..." said the other one, and took her hand from the woman's forehead. "Somehow I cannot enter her mind this time."

"Let me try," said the white face, pushing the red face aside. "You're too incapable, Koume!"

The red face hissed at the white one and went to the side. The white one also placed her hand on the woman's forehead and closed her eyes. She frowned her wrinkled forehead, but then she removed her hand.

"I don't know how this Sheikah is sleeping," she said. "There is absolutely nothing in her mind, as if she were not there at all."

"How shall we now find out what's going on?" the red face asked.

"Perhaps pregnancy takes longer with the Sheikah than with the others," said the white face thoughtfully. "But how long?"

"Maybe one of the others knows," said the red face.

"We need to find out," said the white face. "If her pregnancy lasts longer than nine months, we must adjust the dosage, otherwise she will die too soon."

"What about the King?" the red face asked hesitantly. "If the pregnancy indeed takes longer... He also eats the leaves."

"But not as many as she," the white face replied sullenly. "And we can cleanse him when the child is born and the woman is dead. Besides, it was you who insisted that we start with the drug! By the way, why did you want so absolutely to kill her?"

"Because he is mine! She must disappear when the child is born."

"You will get him, do not worry! We cannot let the woman live anyway, because the two of them are too strong when they are together. He has been training her since she has come to him. And since they performed this outrageous ritual out there, the magic has grown stronger in them both."

"But shouldn't we look for a stronger drug then? You know, the other woman was Gerudo, but this one is Sheikah."

"Oh, nonsense," growled the white face. "It's not important whether she is Sheikah or Gerudo."

"But she is magically gifted!" objected the red face.

"The drug has nothing to do with magic, you stupid chicken!" scolded the white face. "It will work exactly like with the other. We only need to use the right dose and know exactly how long the pregnancy lasts. If we assume a year and it lasts only eleven months, she will die too early, like the other."

"It was just right with her," said the red face. "If she had lived longer, she might have revealed that she seduced the King himself, as proud as she was."

"We were lucky that she was so proud," said the white face. "To another, the prospect of a magically gifted daughter might not have been so tempting that she would have been willing to disregard that senseless Code and take the potion." She shuddered again. "I don't dare to imagine what would have happened if she had indeed had a daughter."

"But the time for a male Gerudo had come, Kotake," said the red face. "And the potion in her body worked just fine. The King had no chance, although he was such a huge fellow. I wonder how she managed to keep the other men off herself, with the amount of attractants we gave her." She giggled with her high, shrill voice.

The beautiful man stirred and pressed the woman to himself, but he felt that she did not react to his caresses. He opened his eyes and straightened.

 _"Ri-su ruadi?"_

"Come on, we are done," said the white face. "Let's go to Nabooru".

Both flew away on their broomsticks.

As usual, Ranalla could not understand what the beautiful man said when he spoke to the woman in that other language. She had to tell him what the ugly birds had said, for they had an evil plan! But she did not know how to talk to him.

 _"At-spartij, ri-su ruadi!"_ said the beautiful man, shaking the woman. Ranalla flew to him and looked at his face. Worry lay in his eyes as he laid his head on the woman's chest.

 _"At-spartij, ri-su..._ Come, Madam, wake up!"

Ah, now she could understand him.

"Madam Ranalla!"

He called for her. She had to go, she was already there!

2

She opened her eyes.

"Madam!"

She looked at him in astonishment.

"Your Majesty?"

"You were unconscious, Madam!"

She did not remember.

"I..."

She felt his magic and closed her eyes. It felt so _good!_ The Treasure reacted to Ganondorf's magic and jerked and bounced in her belly. She took his hand and placed it where she felt the movement. He stroked her skin on that spot and giggled as the tiny feet pushed against his hand, but then his hand wandered farther down, and Ranalla shivered.

 _"Sarili mi..."_

His kiss came, and the _Feeling_ covered her body with gentle rose petals slowly pouring from the sky, and each brought a pleasant thrill that nourished her desire.

They had needed to adjust, because the little creature in Ranalla's belly claimed its space as it slowly grew and developed. But they had found a way, and she felt him gently coming to her, while his lips induced the _Feeling_ again, and it multiplied her pleasure. She wrapped her legs around his body to get him even deeper, for she had the impression that he did not dare, and when she opened her eyes she saw him smile gratefully with his eyes closed. She loved him so much!

She pulled his body down to herself and whispered softly in his ear.

"Do not be afraid, Your Majesty. Let me feel you, I'm longing for you."

In reply, he kissed her stormily, and she felt him growing bolder, until finally he threw off his restraint and made love to her like she wished, with strength and passion. The blue aura of their merged magic built up already after a short time, and Ranalla thought she would burst with joy, for she was feeling her fulfillment just at the moment when Ganondorf suddenly held her, tightening his muscles, and his warm wave surged through her body, while his lips were lying on hers and the _Feeling_ reached its peak.

Since he had learned that she could feel his climax, he had tried to give her the _Feeling_ at the same time and watched even more closely for the signals of her body. By now, he knew her so well that he knew exactly what he had to do to give her this pleasure, and she was speechless with delight every time. But this time he had succeeded in eliciting the threefold fulfillment in her, and the color and density of the aura was more intense than she had ever seen before.

The growing Treasure in her belly did not allow her to lie on his chest afterwards, but he took her in his arms and kissed her to enjoy the blissful fusion of their minds that the _Bonding_ would bring them.

3

 _When he opened the door, she was no longer sitting at the dining table, but the candles on the desk illuminated her figure. He was angry, for the twins had urged him to finally impregnate her, and had threatened to unleash her magic with their own method, if he could not. She had just asked him where the fruit and leaves came from, and he had decided to show her the forest after dinner. He had thought of the fact that up there was his bed, where he had been dreaming of her every night for two months already, almost dying from longing when he awoke from a dream in which he had made love to her, had been inside her, and had felt her lips._

 _Then Risha had called him, and he had been forced to argue with those nagging witches and stall them, because he did not know how to free Ranalla's magic. In the book of Andyr Kendrice, he had read the word fire, but it did not make sense to him. He gave Ranalla his seductive attention and saw how excited she was, he did not grant her any rest and challenged her until exhaustion in their sparring fights, but it did not work. She accepted everything obediently, and her magic remained trapped._

 _He approached her and saw that she was reading in the grammar. He would make another attempt, right now. Maybe he could transfer his anger to her and finally succeed._

 _When he stood in front of her, he took the book from her hand and pulled her to her feet. He sent his magic to her and let it reach out for hers with demanding force. But he wanted to have her in a place where he was closer to her, closer than now. The table was too low, and his gaze fell on the chest of drawers, which was higher than the table. Grimly, he swept down with his hand everything that lay on its surface, and sat Ranalla on it. He wanted her so much that it hurt, and he closed his eyes not to see her surprised look with those large, dark pupils in her red eyes, from which her desire reached out for him with hot, burning fingers. When he opened his eyes, time slowed, and he realized that only a few inches were separating him from her lips. From the lips that attracted him like the fire attracted the moths at night... He had to be closer to her, even closer, and he opened her legs... There lay heaven before him..._

 _"Your... Your Majesty..." he heard her stammer softly. "What do you want to do?"_

 _I want to kiss you, Madam. I want..._

 _He put his hands on her hair and brought her face closer to his, and she closed her eyes and opened her lips, and he felt her warm breath and saw the tip of her tongue, waiting for his..._

 _But he could not touch her magic!_

 _With almost supernatural effort, he held back before he met her lips._

 _"Please, Madam, I beg you! Release your magic," he implored. Why did she torture him like that?_

 _"I don't know how..." she breathed. "I would like to so badly, Your Majesty, but I don't know how..."_

 _He shrank back frustrated and put his hands over his face._

 _It did not work. He had failed._

 _They would find her and perform their terrible ritual with her, perhaps even destroy her..._

 _He could not allow that! He had to protect her room with a barrier, otherwise they would come at night and get her..._

 _He saw how she twitched when he looked at her again. She was breathing heavily with disappointment, and his soul ached that he did this to her. He lifted her from the dresser and looked at the table, but he was no longer hungry._

 _"Have you finished eating?" he asked. She swayed and held onto the dresser while she blinked and nodded._

 _"Then come, Madam. I'll show you the garden."_

 _Maybe when they were up there..._

.

Ranalla rose from the memory and flew further. She knew she had not seen everything yet. It was the evening he had kissed her during her unconsciousness, and she wanted to know...

.

 _She had fainted, just at the moment he thought he had finally succeeded. She had become angry and had freed a great part of her magic, and for a fraction of a moment he had felt that strong connection with her, and then he had caught her as she sank to the ground. He had put her on the bed and had tried to wake her up. The twins had apparently also felt that another part of her magic had been freed, for they had suddenly turned up on their broomsticks, wanting to finish it. They had given him an ultimatum and had granted him another two weeks, during which he had to completely free her magic. How could he do that?_

 _The connection to her magic had broken the moment she had lost consciousness, and he no longer felt it. He had to make another attempt to wake her up._

 _"Madam Ranalla..." he said softly in Sheikah, because she had used her mother tongue in her anger._

 _She groaned softly, and he stroked her cheek, but her magic remained in the distance, and he had the impression that it was slowly drawing farther away from him, retreating into her body, as if it wanted to hide behind the cage bars again..._

 _"Madam Ranalla... wake up. Please, wake up, I cannot hold you anymore. You are slipping away from me."_

 _She no longer reacted, and fear took hold of him. He put his head on her chest and listened to her heartbeat. Her pulse was very low, and he barely heard it._

 _"Please, Madam! Come back!"_

 _He almost could not feel her magic anymore._

 _What was that?_

 _She had just grown angry... Could it be possible that something was escaping him, something that Andyr Kendrice presumed to be known, but that he was missing?_

 _"Madam... Ranalla... where are you?"_

 _Her face was warm, but she did not come to. And where was her magic?_

 _"Madam..."_

 _He had tried everything, except..._

 _Maybe if he..._

 _Once again he sent his magic to her, then he bent to her and put his lips on hers._

 _And there was her magic. The connection was thin, but it was present, and he reached through with his magic and..._

4

Gasping, Ganondorf broke away from her, and she opened her eyes with fright. He stared at her, his eyes wide with horror.

 _"Ri-su..."_

He put a hand on her face and closed her mouth. Then he straightened up and looked around, listening, and she saw his eyes twitching restlessly. The aura had not yet withdrawn, and the blue field embraced her, urging her to merge with his mind. At last, he took his hand from her mouth and looked at her attentively. His jaw muscles were tense and he swallowed hard. His heart was beating so loud that she could hear it over the distance separating her ear from his chest, and he breathed heavily. He was angry, and she was afraid.

Finally, he slowly lay down again and drew her into his arms with infinite tenderness. He closed his eyes with such a sad expression on his face that tears came to Ranalla's eyes.

What had happened?

While she was lying next to him with her head pressed against his cheek, she suddenly felt something warm on her cheek. She turned her head slightly and saw that it was his tears that she felt.

The one day, after the _Bonding_ , when he had met his son in her mind for the first time, tears of joy had been in his eyes. But these were not tears of joy, and she had never seen him weep. He pressed his eyelids together and swallowed, but new tears rolled over his cheeks and fell on her hair next to him.

She was afraid to ask him.

Something terrible must have happened. But what? And why so suddenly? She tried to remember what had been before. She had been in his mind and had received the memory of her first bout of unconsciousness from him.

What had he done in the meantime? He had always played with the Treasure, but this time the aura had been different. Had he perhaps also received a memory? But what kind of memory? All her memories of him were happy...

"What did you see?" she finally dared to ask.

She waited a long time for his answer.

"They..." he began. His breath was still heavy, but his heart seemed to have calmed down.

"They..." he tried again. "They killed my mother."

"Who, Your Majesty?"

"Kotake and Koume. The twins, Madam."

She was dismayed.

"But how, Your Majesty? During your birth?"

"No, Madam." He straightened up and stroked her shoulders tenderly. "They gave her a drug that killed her gradually, and shortly after she gave birth to me, she died. No one could find out why she died, for she was healthy until the last moment."

"But how do you..."

"I saw a memory in your mind, Madam. A short while after you fell unconscious, the twins came and tried to extract information from our minds. From my mind they extracted the information about the mirror shield. They could not get any information from your mind, because at that time your spirit was outside your body and was watching the twins. It heard everything they said and planned to tell me about it. But after you came to, you could not remember this experience. However, it was still stored in your short-term memory, and the intensity of the aura we created this time allowed me to receive the memory of it."

Ranalla was speechless. The malice of the twin sisters shocked her.

"Madam..." she heard Ganondorf's soft tone, and its sound aroused a dark fear within her.

"Yes, Your Majesty," she said anxiously.

"They have poisoned you too."

A shudder of horror flowed through Ranalla's body, and she gasped for air.

"Don't be afraid, Madam," he said, pressing her to himself. "Andyr Kendrice has described in his book how to cleanse a person from a poison with the help of magic."

She breathed a sigh of relief, but she realized that he had not told her everything.

"How?" she asked.

"It works similar to healing with magic, Madam. But... it's painful. The drug has spread in your body and clings to it, and it will hurt you when it is removed. I guess they made you addicted to something you like to eat, so your body kept asking for it."

"The Liri leaves!" breathed Ranalla.

Ganondorf nodded. "Probably, Madam. We need to find the poison, because they want to continue giving it to you until birth."


	28. Chapter 28

**Chapter 28**

1

He wanted to cleanse her immediately.

"How long will it take?" Ranalla asked.

"I do not know, Madam. Andyr Kendrice tells of a cleansing he performed with his magic on one of his children who had eaten a poisonous mushroom. He performed the cleansing a few hours after the poisoning, when the first symptoms appeared, and it took about half an hour."

"Will our son feel it?"

"No, Madam. The drug cannot reach the child, and the twins would not take the risk of injuring him. They are very good at these things. With my mother, it seems to have fit almost to the minute."

Ranalla saw a painful expression in his face as he shook his head softly. She straightened up and stroked his cheek.

"I am so sorry, Your Majesty," she said, and tears came to her eyes. But there was a slight smile in his features.

"My mother has died, Madam, but from this memory I received from you, I now know with certainty that King Regar Nohansen was my father. The twins gave my mother an attractant and told her that she would have a magically gifted daughter if she seduced the King. They even seemed to have expected a male child."

"Perhaps there is some truth about the legend with the flying dragon, Your Majesty," said Ranalla. "In the book with the poem about the Ren-Bird I saw the year of birth of the author. You were born exactly one hundred years after Tiristal Nerisdorf, who was the last male Gerudo before you."

"Or the twins had something to do with that, too, Madam. Now that I know of their dark plans, I would not put it past them. We must definitely thwart their plan. I must cleanse you, right now. Then I will go to the Liri plants. If they indeed contain the drug, I am in no danger because, as you liked the Liri leaves so much, I always left them to you."

"What do I have to do, Your Majesty?" Ranalla asked. She was afraid of the pain, and she thought it would surely take a long time, as the twin sisters had probably given her the poison for some months already.

"Just lie down, Madam. I will transfer my magic to you and let it work in your body. It will have to fight against your magic, because it will resist the removal of the poison. I will hold you tight so that you will not hurt yourself. If you faint, I will finish the cleansing first before I wake you. Try to stay conscious."

Ranalla nodded.

He sat up, then knelt over her and put his hands on her arms. Ranalla closed her eyes in anticipation of his lips, and all her muscles tensed under him as his magic broke from his tongue and entered her body. He gave her as great a part of his magic as she had only ever received from him during the _Bonding_. Her eyes flew open as he pulled away from her.

"I cannot absorb it, Your Majesty!" she said, and fear dragged at her mind.

"That's right, Madam, I do not allow it. It must not connect with your magic. I keep the connection with it, and now I will seek the poison. Close your eyes and try to lie still."

Ranalla did what he said, but it was difficult because his magic was racing through her perception like a fiery, galloping horse that she could not catch up with.

At first, she felt a delicate tingle on her skin, which slowly became a light burn. She wanted to move, but Ganondorf's hands held her tightly fettered to the bed. The burning swelled, and she felt it all over her body, even under her hair and fingernails. It burned more and more, and then she also felt the pain inside her body, in her muscles and in her bones, in her eyes and her tongue. As the pain grew and she felt herself slowly approaching the limits of her resilience, she realized with relief that she had no pain in her belly.

She heard Ganondorf breathing faster above her, and as she took a quick look at him, she saw his tense face watching hers with a determined expression. She closed her eyes again, for the burning was growing even stronger in her body, and then her magic began to vibrate. It trembled in impulses of hot waves that flowed painfully through her body, and she groaned and whimpered, for it hurt so much! The pain increased, and she thought that the flames were consuming her skin, and her magic throbbed and raced as if ready to break out of her body. Ganondorf was breathing quickly and gasping loudly, but his hands still clasped her arms like iron shackles. His magic pressed her, hunted her, pursued her, but her magic resisted and struck with force against his. The fire was raging inside her, and the pain was so strong that she had to scream.

"Stop, stop!" she cried, for she could no longer bear the pain. She opened her eyes, and saw Ganondorf kneeling over her with his eyes closed and teeth clenched, and the muscles of his arms protruded as his hands clasped her arms.

"Stop!" she cried again, but he did not listen to her. She pinched her eyes, for her skin was burning brightly, and her body seemed to be filled with hot lava that scorched her from inside. She felt her magic throwing itself angrily against the strange, blazing magic in her body, wanting to smash it. She had to help it, she had to drive this foreign, painful, hostile magic out of her body, and she leaned against it and struggled against the relentless power that raged inside her. The strange magic had come to take something away from her, something precious, that she could not lose. Panic seized her as she remembered her child. The enemy had come to take her child, to tear it away from her, to break it, to destroy it!

"Nooooo!" she cried, and tried to rear up. She could not move, because on her body lay a heavy weight, which held her tight, tied her, captured her in this place where she...

But then the pain ceased.

2

The beautiful man was kneeling above the woman holding her arms. With his legs he held her body, and her eyes were closed. Again and again her body reared up, and a wild struggle seemed to take place inside it. Ranalla flew to the beautiful man and looked into his face. It was distorted with pain, and his jaw was trembling with tension. She would ask him when she came back, but first she wanted to fly to the ugly birds. They wanted to do something to the woman, Ranalla knew, but they had flown away, and Ranalla had not heard everything they had said.

She set off on the path she already knew, over the top of the trees, then over the roof, and down onto the hand of the great goddess. She came through the large room and followed the corridors to the terrible barrier flickering red and white before the door. But she dodged the barrier and flew through the wall as she had done the last time, and entered the room with the dark altar, which still frightened her. Again she took the path through the iron door, into the room where the ugly birds had brewed something... She had to tell the beautiful man about it, she remembered, he had to know what the birds had done there.

This time, too, they were there. They were hovering on their broomsticks in front of a table with an open book, and a dagger in a sheath. They seemed to be talking to someone Ranalla could not see, but the book was surrounded by an ugly black aura, as if the air were thick with dust.

 _"You have not fulfilled my order,"_ Ranalla heard a dark voice that seemed to come from the book. _"I gave you four hundred years to create a body that would meet my requirements, but you have failed. I will destroy you and seek other servants."_

"Please, Master," moaned the bird with the white face. "Your body is on its way, but it needs more time until it is ready for you."

 _"The Fabric needs to be smoothed, because the attraction destroys it. The terrible Goddess has brought this new bearer of her heritage into the World, and he draws a trail of devastation through my structure. I need a body to enter the World. You promised that it would be ready. I will not tolerate any further delay. Bring me the body to the portal."_

"Your body has not yet been born, Master," said the white face again.

 _"That is irrelevant. I can also take it if it is not yet born. The bearer of the heritage of the Goddess will not survive the takeover."_

"But your body has not yet... matured," the red face meddled.

 _"What does that mean?"_ the dark voice asked.

"It must grow, Master. With the Sheikah, the pregnancy lasts twelve months, not nine, as with the other peoples. You did not tell us this, Master, so we reckoned on nine months."

 _"Do you want to blame me for your failure, low being named Kotake?"_ asked the presence from the book.

"No, Master. I just thought you could give us some information in your omniscient might, so that we could serve you better."

 _"Your flatteries are useless,"_ said the presence. _"I gave you information about where you could find the bearers of the heritage of the Goddess. Two times you failed. The third time, even the Goddess herself sent you the bearer, and you have also failed now."_

"We could not take the woman from the future, Master. She is bound to her brother with a peculiar charm, and she would rather kill herself than bear the King's child. Her mother Impa is protected by the artifact of the Goddess, and she has rejected the King. The woman from the past, whom the Goddess sent us, carries your body, but it needs three more months until it will be born. Please, Master, we promise you that your body will be ready in three months."

 _"I grant you three months, but I will restore your original shape only after I have completely taken over the body and the producers are removed. They cause so many disturbances in the Fabric that I can barely smooth them."_

"Yes, Master," both faces said as one. The dark dust retreated into the book and the white face closed it. Ranalla flew there and saw silver shining ornaments on the back of the book.

"We should have taken the first woman anyway," Ranalla heard the red face say. By now, she could distinguish the voices of the two birds, although their faces differed only by the color of the gem on their foreheads. The voice from the book had called the white face Kotake, and Ranalla remembered the name of the other bird. Its name was Koume.

"Didn't you hear what I said, Koume?" scolded Kotake. "She would have killed herself. Without her brother, that terrible mage, she would not have survived a single day. Perhaps she would have even killed the King, then we could have let ourselves be buried at once. We were lucky that we were able to take the books with us, so we could at least bring the King into our hands because he was so avid for them."

"And what about Impa? We could have fetched her, then we would not have needed to waste so much time to awaken her magic. We should not have let the King go to Hyrule from the beginning. With this cursed Code he has spoiled everything. Ask questions, fight, kiss... such a waste of time!"

"Oh, stop, Koume," said Kotake. "You always forget the simplest things. I already told you that Impa is protected by the artifact. We cannot fetch her without a war. Then our King will be killed and everything will be lost again."

"And I say we should have fetched her anyway," Koume countered. "Despite the war. Then the Master would have his body now, and we would have our original shape. Always ride on the broom, never sleep, never eat, never love..."

"You're a lecherous old prune, Koume. Do not forget, we have the most powerful magic a being of this world has ever had. When the Master has his body and is in the world, we will enjoy infinite power at his side, and we will be as beautiful as we were four hundred years ago. We just have to wait three more months, then everything will be over."

"I have to ask the Master to let the King live," Koume whined. "He's mine! For almost a year already I have been forced to watch him every day as he..."

"Madam Ranalla..."

Ranalla was startled. She had been so fascinated with the two birds that she had forgotten to go back. Quickly, she rose and flew through the iron door, through the wall, and across the corridor.

"Madam Ranalla, wake up..."

The beautiful man was talking to her and called for her. She had to go to him and the woman quickly. They were both in danger, and she wanted to save them. She followed the path back to them, and had reached the forest quickly. When she came to the pavilion, the man was sitting on the bed with the woman in his arms. She did not move, and the man caressed her face tenderly. He kissed her again and again, pressed her to him and rocked her gently back and forth in his arms. He looked exhausted and tired.

"Madam Ranalla, come back," he begged.

Ranalla wanted to talk to him, and by now, she knew what to do.

3

She opened her eyes and saw his face. He pressed her to himself and kissed her for a long time, and she was so glad to be with him.

"Nice to see you back, Madam," he said softly, hugging her. "Do you remember where you were?"

Ranalla thought. She had had a dream where someone wanted to take her child. An evil creature, that had entered her body. She winced as she remembered the pain.

"I fought..." she said.

"Against whom, Madam?"

"Against you, Your Majesty. I fought against your magic."

"Yes, Madam, that's true. Your magic called for your help when I wanted to get the poison out of your body. You almost succeeded in defeating me." His voice sounded exhausted.

He gently stroked her back, and she closed her eyes. Like a dark veil, the memory of the poison and the cleansing fell upon her, and she pressed him to herself in horror.

"Were... were you successful, Your Majesty?" she asked hesitantly.

"Yes, Madam. I have cleansed the poison from your body."

"Where is it now, Your Majesty?"

"There".

He pointed with his head at the floor of the pavilion where a dark spot looked as if something had burned the wood there. Ranalla was frightened.

"Did the poison burn the floor?"

"No, Madam." He shook his head with a slight smile. "It was a simple herbal drug that kills the body when it reaches a certain concentration inside it. I burned the wood when I burned the drug. But do not worry, I can exchange the board. There should be some wood left from the construction of the pavilion."

Ranalla smiled. He had just saved her life for the fifth time and was talking about repairing the pavilion. At that moment, she realized that Ganondorf's magic was still in her body, and she suddenly knew why he was so exhausted.

"Thank you, Your Majesty," she said to him. "Please, take back your magic. And... if you're not too tired..."

But he kissed her, and she relaxed her body and gratefully let his magic flow back to him.

"No, Madam, I'm not too tired," she heard him say. "But _you_ are."


	29. Chapter 29

**Chapter 29**

1

She awoke from the familiar feeling of his magic enveloping her. He lay beside her on his side, leaning on his arm. His fingers were playing with her hair, and his face glowed golden in the early morning sun. With a wave of joy, she realized that after the interruption because of the cleansing, she had slept through the night without waking and without the oppressive anxiety she had felt so often at night during the last months.

The days had grown longer again, and spring would come in Hyrule. She had already been with him for almost a year now. A year full of love and wonderful things that she had learned from him. She had come to him as a lonely woman with weak magic who had never before experienced love in her long life. And now she was the wife of the King of the Gerudo, who bore his son. She had her complete magic and had performed the _Bonding_ with him. She had learned sword fighting, archery, riding, playing the organ, playing the ocarina and much more, including the language of the Gerudo, and she was loved by a beautiful, strong, wonderful man who was the only one of his kind in the world.

The little creature in her belly stirred, and she jerked as she felt a kick in her side.

"Is he awake?" Ganondorf asked, and she nodded.

"That's good," he said with a seductive smile. "What about you? Are you well rested, Madam?"

His smile caused those delicate hairs on her skin to rise and her cheeks to warm. A greedy, wild energy shot into her limbs. She looked at him and enjoyed the sight of his face above her. The front strands of his hair were already braided, but the others fell over his shoulders on the bed. His golden eyes gazed into hers with a clear look, and she could almost read his thoughts.

 _"Andryl mi!"_

He closed his eyes, smiling, as if he had been waiting for her words and was glad that they had come. This simple gesture excited her so much that her legs clenched in anticipation, and she felt her inside widen. She sent her magic to him and enveloped him full of exuberance. She felt so free and unrestrained, so untamed and cheerful, and she wanted him. She also closed her eyes with a smile and bathed in the feeling of her desire, which she knew he would fulfill with joy and pleasure. She felt him coming closer, and his lips touched hers lightly. The tingle of the _Feeling_ swept over her skin, and she opened her lips, but he pulled back and teased her. Eagerly, she raised her face to him, and he gave her again that short, light touch. She felt the tip of his tongue gently stroke her lips, and she shivered. She raised her face still a little more, but he pulled back again. As she opened her eyes to give him a blaming look, he kissed her stormily and pushed her back into the pillows. The _Feeling_ flashed with such force through her body that she would have screamed if her lips had not been locked with his – and then she felt him enter. He came forward in a single thrust, and the familiar pain was missing completely, for she reared up in unbridled pleasure.

What was he doing to her?

The _Feeling_ of the _Bonding_ had opened up so many new possibilities for him to seduce her and surprise her that she was completely crazy for him. His restraint from the evening before had vanished, and she had to stop all her thoughts as the energy of his movements made the world fade. She felt fulfillment slowly approaching her, first in gentle waves that tingled on her skin. Then Ganondorf's sensations mingled in the waves, and they grew stronger. His lips were close to hers, and she felt his warm, panting breath as he waited for the right moment to kiss her. When it came, time stood still, and like the evening before, Ranalla felt the threefold pleasure under his lips, and he absorbed it greedily while both their magics created the blue aura that evidenced their union. Ganondorf took her in his arms and lay down with her on the bed again. She was looking forward to his kiss in the aura, for she longed to meet the delicious memories of her in his mind while the rush of the _Feeling_ flowed through her body.

2

 _"Jal Tria ill Ronyr vendrit, Andyr si rivendrit."_

 _With a beating heart, he lifted his eyes from the sentence he had just read, and his pupils twitched restlessly, as several notions combined in his mind and formed a new insight._

 _Andyr._

 _Andyr ill Serok. Fire of the Dragon._

 _Why had she said that? She knew that his name meant_ Favorite of the Dragon _, not_ Fire of the Dragon _..._

 _He gasped as the idea broke into his chain of conclusions like a flash of lightning._

 _What if she had not made a mistake?_

 _What if she had said it correctly and he had just misunderstood?_

 _Andyr ill Serok. Fire of the Dragon. Favorite of the Dragon._

 _It was her mother tongue, after all! She would never make a mistake in her mother tongue. She had said it that way because it had to be so. Andyr meant_ fire _, but it also meant..._

 _"Your Majesty!"_

 _Her voice sounded through the trees, and there was panic in it. Startled, he jumped up. What was she doing here? How did she get through the barrier?_

 _"Ganondorf!"_

 _Hurriedly, he pulled on his pants, then ran the shortest way to the barrier, while he sent whirls to the light orbs. She was standing with her back against the barrier, and the twins were pointing their brooms at her._

 _Anger flashed up inside him. Again they interfered!_

 _He ran to her, pulled her through the barrier, and threw her behind him into safety. Then he hurled a barrier at the twins and banned their beam._

 _"It's almost done, Your Majesty," cried Kotake, trying to penetrate the barrier with her beam. "Come, let us finish. It is childish, what you are doing here."_

 _"Come on, we're flying higher, Kotake," Koume shouted. Her broom flew up, above the barrier, and now fear came to him. They would reach her! He had finally found her, and he had finally found the answer, and now they came and interfered. He was too weak, he could not do anything against them!_

 _"Go away, or I'll kill both of us!" he shouted in panic, moving the barrier upward. The twins laughed, but he knew they believed him. They absolutely wanted this child, and they would not endanger this opportunity._

 _"All right, Your Majesty," shouted Kotake, who had always been the leader. "You have two more days, as agreed." They rushed off on their broomsticks._

 _He turned and saw her crouching beside the tree. Her eyes were closed, and she swayed and sank against the trunk of the tree. With a few quick steps he had reached her and grabbed her arms._

 _"Stay with me, Madam," he said to her. She must not fall unconscious now!_

 _She opened her eyes and looked at him, then she turned her head and looked outside._

 _"They're gone," he said, pressing her to himself with relief. "Oh, Madam..."_

 _"Ri-su ru..." she stammered. She spoke Gerudo, that was good._

 _He straightened and pulled her up with him. Heavy shackles lay on her arms and legs, and the skin underneath them was bloody. She looked disheveled and battered, and tears were in her eyes, but all of that was not important because at last, he knew what he had to do._

 _Andyr was the word for fire, but it was also the word for love. The word he had been searching for._

 _"Jal Tria ill Ronyr vendrit, Andyr si rivendrit."_

 _"When the magic of a human is asleep, love will awaken it."_

 _It was so simple._

 _He took her face in his hands and finally did what he had dreamed of all his life. Without hesitation, he brought his lips to hers that were waiting for him and opened for him, and her pure, wonderful magic simply flowed out of its prison to him, as if all the walls had melted away in a single moment._

.

 _Never would he have dared to dream that it would be like this._

 _He was kissing her lips and was feeling her complete magic with his. The connection was no longer just a tender string, but her magic was everywhere inside her, around her, and he could touch it with his, embed himself into it, permeate it, and finally reach her soul._

 _How could he be sure that it was real? That it was not again one of those fervent dreams in his bed in the pavilion, from which he awoke in the darkness and thought he had her in his arms, just to realize with horror that he was alone? But he had never been able to control his dreams. He remembered only images, feelings, short scenes with impressions of movement flashing in his mind. Long, white hair on his cheek, fingers clasped in his arms, red eyes that closed, and lips that opened for sweet sighs. Warm, soft skin on his body, firm buds against his chest – and a warm, moist depth into which he could sink, which absorbed and consumed him._

 _But now... now he could do something. He saw everything clearly before his eyes and experienced everything in the right order. He wanted to take her into his arms and carry her to the pavilion. She was hurt, he wanted to heal her and comfort her, and give her pleasure with his love. Her lips were so warm and soft under his, and her tongue, which had met him hesitantly at first, had soon become bolder, following his example and triggering the mighty anticipation inside him that he knew from his dreams._

 _He withdrew his lips and lifted her into his arms. He felt her nestle against his chest and close her eyes to take him in with her senses. When he reached his bed, he put her on her feet and sent his magic to her again. He took her face in his hands and his body shivered as her magic finally answered. Again, he pressed his lips upon hers, and full of delight, he found that he could do it because he wanted it. It could not be a dream._

 _As he caressed her lips with his, he reached for her scraped wrists, and with his magic he removed the fetters from them. With the touch of her magic, he felt so strong and powerful that he could heal her injured skin without interrupting the kiss. Then he pulled away from her and pushed her on the bed so he could heal her legs. His magic also removed the fetters there, and he clasped his hands over the bloody skin on her ankles. At last, it was done, and he drew the magic from the light orbs in the garden. He left only the one in the corner of the meadow, for he wanted to see her face during the journey on which they both would venture._

 _He rose and looked at her, and he could hardly believe that he had freed her magic, and that she was with him. She came to him, and he felt her hands on the closure of his trousers. He wanted to help her..._

 _"I can do it with my magic," he wanted to say, but she put her finger on his lips and shushed him softly. He let it happen, for he wanted to feel it, to experience it, to enjoy it; he did not want to lose a single moment. She opened the closure and freed his body, which was waiting for her. With a little whirl, she took his trousers away and put them aside, but then she seemed a bit confused, and the memory of the encounters with the Sisters flashed up in his mind. All the Sisters had been tall, and yet their eyes had widened with joy when they had unveiled his body. Ranalla was smaller than the Sisters, and more delicate, and he was a little afraid. He wanted to help her to open for him, and he took the hem of her tunic and pulled it over her head. Then he knelt again before her and also opened the closure of her trousers. He made her trousers disappear and saw her standing before him in her entire beauty. Her skin was bright, and her hips were in front of his eyes. Full of anticipation, he kissed the spot he had seen but had not been allowed to touch in the morning after her fainting. He smiled in his mind as he felt her tremble, and the scent of her skin made him shiver._

 _It felt so good to lift her in his arms like this and feel her warm skin on his body. He lay down on the bed and rolled to the side with her. His magic enveloped her body by its own accord, without him having to do anything, and as he kissed her, he felt her unfold and become ready for him._

 _Cautiously, he ventured to enter through the narrow, warm opening. Immediately at the entrance, he felt a resistance that he instantly recognized with astonishment, although he had never met it before. He felt her twitch gently, but then he was through, and the sensation was overwhelming. He felt her fingers claw into his arms like in his dream, and her eyes closed as he advanced. Her inside was tight around him, and she gasped and whimpered as she slowly, little by little, let him in. He watched her face, for he did not want to miss a single emotion, not a single signal that could be read there. When he had arrived, he slowly retreated from inside her, and her warm touch took his breath away. She pulled him down, and her burning, fervent lips kissed him, full of hungry greed. He felt her body adapt to his movements and meet him, just like her soft tongue encouraged him and invited him with gentle, feminine might._

 _He felt the urge to get faster and she came to him, accompanied him, and pulled him along with her. On his way to the peak, he heard with delight how she moaned and gasped, then her body suddenly tensed, and the impulse unleashed his stream in an explosion of joy and bliss._

 _Infinite gratitude enveloped him, and he took her into his arms and turned with her on his back, for he wanted to feel her body on his while he was resting. He had found her and had made love to her with her full, awakened magic, and never, never again did he want to be without her._

3

 _As she entered the room, she realized at once that the siblings were missing, and an uncomfortable tension seized her. Since the Elder Sunyar had locked the two of them in his bedroom and they somehow had performed the_ Bonding _, Ghirahim had grown arrogant and disobedient, and he always drew Impa along in his dangerous experiments. She could not resist, because she was bound to him, so Ranalla had to pay particular attention to the two children. Actually, they had been much too young for the_ Bonding _, and no one had noticed any symptoms with them, except that they suddenly seemed to hate each other, and were constantly fighting and getting out of each other's way whenever they could. They disturbed the lessons so much that Sunyar had become angry and locked them up together in the only room in his apartment that had no windows and was lockable. He had hoped that they would get together there and make peace, but when he had retired in the evening to the back of the school, where he lived in the headmaster's rooms, he had found the two siblings lying closely entwined on his bed with their eyes closed. Their lips had been united in a fervent kiss, and Sunyar had seen the remnants of the aura floating above their bodies. Shaking his head, he had left them alone, until they came out of their own accord the next morning._

 _Since then, the siblings were never to be found apart again. Whenever one saw them, they held hands while the blue whirls of their mighty magic, which had shown shortly after their respective births, were constantly flowing around their fingers. Ranalla was happy for the two of them, and silently she also envied Impa a little, but more than anything she was sad that she herself had not found a companion in her two centuries of life as an adult Sheikah._

 _More than a hundred years ago, she had been elected by the community to be the First of the Sheikah. The men of the community met her with respect, but all seemed to be afraid of offering the First of the Sheikah their love._

 _She had needed to punish Impa and Ghirahim a couple of times in the last few weeks, because they had not come to the lessons, but had gone to try out the_ Feeling _of the_ Bonding _at several exposed spots of the village. Ghirahim had thrown at her feet the naughty excuse that it was scientific research he was doing, and that he would gladly give a presentation on the topic if the Elders wanted. But she had needed to make an example and had ordered that Sunyar fetter their magic for one day. The siblings had had to wear special bands on their arms that they could only remove with the greatest pain. Ranalla had seen the sad, longing eyes with which they looked at each other, without feeling each other._

 _"Where are Impa and Ghirahim?" she asked the eighteen children of different ages gathered around her in the school's religion room._

 _No one said anything. They probably did not know. She decided to start with the lesson and wait a while, perhaps they were just late again._

 _"All right," she said. "Sit down on the floor and listen to me. Today, we are going to talk about the legend of the Triforce, which explains the origins of our world."_

 _"Are we going to talk about the Master Sword?" asked a little girl whose magic had not yet awoken. "Papa says the legend is true!"_

 _"Yes, Rigit," she replied. "No one knows for sure whether the legend is true, but the sacred artifacts of the Goddesses suggest that the legend contains a certain amount of truth."_

 _"What kind of artifacts?" asked a boy whose parents had also performed the_ Bonding _a long time ago. His magic was stronger than Ranalla's own._

 _"Well the Master Sword, of course!" shouted the girl named Rigit._

 _"Do you want to hear the story?" Ranalla asked to get their attention back. Everyone nodded._

 _"Well, this is the story the way it came down," she began. "When all was chaos, the Goddesses descended and gave order and life to the world. They granted power equally to all who dwelt in the light, and then returned to the heavens. The lands where the Goddesses descended came to be known as the Sacred Realm. It is a land of peace and joy, and in the place where the Goddesses left the world, three sacred golden triangles remained. They were created to give hope to the beings of the Earth, and they give to those who touch them the power to shape reality and to fulfill all their wishes._

 _"We call these sacred triangles the Triforce. They stand for the elements of Power, Wisdom, and Courage."_

 _"Where is the Sacred Realm, First Ranalla?" asked the boy, who had spoken before._

 _"It is no longer in our world," Ranalla replied._

 _"Can you go there?" another girl asked._

 _"That is possible, Rimani," she answered. "But the Sacred Realm is closed. Only the Chosen Hero who fights evil can use the key to the Sacred Realm, because the key obeys only him."_

 _"What kind of key is that?" Rimani asked._

 _"Well, the..." Rigit cried,_

 _"...Master Sword of course!" the other children continued as one. Apparently, Rigit's father had told her a couple of things._

 _"Where is the key?" asked an older boy. "Is it in our world?"_

 _"It is in our world, but it is hidden," replied Ranalla. "Nobody knows exactly where it is, but the scriptures tell of three other divine artifacts that will open the way to the key. They are guarded by three sages who are members of different nonhuman tribes. It is said that the Goddesses wanted to make it so that the tribes would have to work together if they wanted to enter the Sacred Realm."_

 _"Is the Chosen Hero a human being?" the boy asked further._

 _"So the legend tells," said Ranalla. "But to defeat evil, the sages of all peoples must work together with the Hero: the Zoras, the Gorons, the Forest Beings, the Hylians, the Gerudo, and we Sheikah. They are led by a seventh sage, who unites and controls their power, and who stands by the side of the Chosen Hero."_

 _"Are there any other divine artifacts in our world?" the girl Rigit asked._

 _"Yes, Rigit," Ranalla replied. "The Goddesses created various objects, weapons, and buildings in which their power is concentrated, and these have mighty magical abilities."_

 _"What kinds of objects?" Rigit continued, and Ranalla smiled delightedly at her curiosity._

 _"The Goddesses created, for example, a sacred instrument that has the power to open the door to where the key of the Sacred Realm is kept. It can also move its bearer to certain places and can even give him power over time itself."_

 _"What kind of instrument is that?" the little boy asked again._

 _"It is the O..."_

 _But the door flew open and the Elder Sunyar rushed in breathlessly._

 _"Come, First, a misfortune has happened!"_

 _Ranalla gave a startled gasp, and her eyes swept over the circle of children as she realized that Impa and Ghirahim were still not there. Her heart beat wildly in horror as a terrible premonition seized her._

 _"Go home, children," she said, then she got up and went with Sunyar._

 _"What happened?" she asked him with an anxious heart as she left the religion room._

 _"Old Satih came to me and said she had seen Ghirahim and Impa go to the hidden meadow. At first, I did not want to believe it, but she insisted, and so I ran after them. You know how strong the magic of the siblings is, and I knew they were in great danger. But I came too late. When I reached the meadow, there were two Dinolfos of the fire race. One had already seized Ghirahim, and the other hurled Impa against the rocks. Then they simply... disappeared!"_

 _"How is Impa?" Ranalla asked as they ran across the courtyard of the school to the headmaster's apartment._

 _"She is alive, but she is unconscious and has serious internal injuries. Her parents are in Castle Town, and it's best if you are there when she wakes up."_

 _Impa lay on the same bed where she had probably performed the_ Bonding _with her brother. Bloody scrapes covered her skin on her face and arms, and at the corner of her mouth a red line made its way over her chin and neck, down to the covers. Ranalla felt her pulse and breathed a sigh of relief._

 _"I will go and gather the others," Sunyar said. "We must begin the healing at once. I think her lungs are injured, probably other organs too."_

 _Ranalla nodded and sat down on the bed next to Impa. She stroked Impa's cheek, and tears entered her eyes._

 _"Impa, my dear," she said softly. "Wake up."_

 _Impa stirred and moaned. "Ghirahim..." she said so softly that Ranalla barely heard it._

 _Ranalla took her hand and Impa opened her eyes. When she saw Ranalla, she wanted to get up._

 _"Stay down, my child. You're badly hurt," Ranalla said more sharply than she had intended. What had he been thinking, this young rogue?_

 _"But Ghirahim..." Impa whispered. "He is also hurt, where is he?"_

 _Ranalla shook her head and swallowed, and she saw the horror in Impa's eyes._

 _"Where... is... he?" she asked again, and her voice broke. "Is he..."_

 _"He is not dead, Impa," said Ranalla. "But he's gone. You were outside the barrier, and the Daemon could see you. He sent his servants, and they captured him."_

4

Slowly, he broke from her lips. It had been a long kiss, because when she opened her eyes, the aura had faded almost completely. In his mind, Ranalla had found the memory of the first time they had made love. It had been one of the brightest fires in the gentle, quiet darkness of his mind, and it had exerted a powerful attraction on her. She had experienced short fragments of his dreams that he had had in the loneliness of his bed, she had felt his deep, desperate longing for her, and his joy when he could finally be with her, love her, and give her his body.

But now she saw a serious expression on his face. She feared that he might have seen a memory of the twin witches in her mind again, but she wanted to wait until he spoke.

"You were a teacher," he said, stroking her hair. She nodded and snuggled up to him as close as her belly permitted. The Treasure struggled against the tightness around him, and pushed fiercely with his feet against the spot where Ganondorf was touching her. Despite his serious face, he giggled as he felt the kick.

"He's just like his father," said Ranalla. "He cannot rest for a moment".

Ganondorf smiled, then looked at her again.

"I was in your mind, Madam," he said. "I saw your sister Impa losing her companion. Now I understand why... why I clashed against that icy wall when I sent my magic to her. How was it possible for her to survive this blow? If I imagine losing you... I would not be able to live on. I think I would do anything – _anything_ – to get you back."

"Probably Impa succeeded, because she was still very young, Your Majesty. After recovering from her severe wounds, she plunged into work. Within a year she became the best sword fighter in the community and defeated all who dared to take it up with her. But she was the only one with whom I ever experienced that a bound couple was torn apart. The Sheikah, of course, could not do much research on this subject, but I believe that any member of a bound couple would rather die than live without his or her companion."

He nodded softly and kissed her.

"I love you so much, Madam. I would never have dreamed that such a feeling was possible at all. I thank your Goddess that she sent you to me, whatever her reason was to do so. Even if it was to ruin me, I will gladly go down in your arms."

"You must take the bright fires, Your Majesty," said Ranalla. "With you at least, the bright fires are always beautiful."

"You see them too?" he asked with amazement.

She nodded and smiled.

"There were also bright fires, Madam, but the fire of this memory was different. It seemed... important."

She nodded again, but her face grew serious. "Impa's brother whom the Daemon took... he..." She pinched her eyes, for her tears came. When she had awakened in the Chamber of the Sages, she had not cried, but now that she was in Ganondorf's arms, knowing that he would comfort her, she let her tears flow freely. He took her in his arms and held her tightly, her and their son, who kept pushing against his father's firm muscles.

Her tears stopped when another strong feeling stirred inside her. Now that the Treasure was growing at a raging speed, he demanded food.

"I'm hungry," she said, while Ganondorf dried her tears. Her words were so unexpected for him that he laughed, but immediately tried to get serious again. But Ranalla found that so funny that she also laughed.

"We must not let the twins notice that you don't take in the poison anymore, Madam," he said as he reached for his trousers. "Otherwise they will find another one. From today on, I will examine every dish before you eat it. I have a trace of the poison in my memory and I will recognize it if I find it somewhere."

First they went to the bed with the Liri plants. Ganondorf picked a leaf and examined it with his magic. He nodded slowly and threw it to the ground.

"They must have watered the plants with the drug dissolved in the water."

"Can you remove it, Your Majesty?" Ranalla asked.

"Yes, Madam, but it's easier if you do not eat the leaves anymore. I will burn them when they are on the plate. Please, do not talk to Nabooru and the other Sisters about this matter. The twins are likely to enter their minds as well in order to extract information. Would you like to eat here or rather in the living room?"

"In the living room," said Ranalla. She wanted to eat the grains, and also the boiled eggs.

On the way to the living room they met Nabooru, and Ranalla asked for some eggs, which were not usually part of the breakfast. Nabooru brought her three eggs without further questions, and Ranalla took them with her to boil them with her magic at the table.

On the breakfast table was a plate with leaves, and she also found the Liri leaves on it. Ganondorf examined everything on the table, but only the Liri leaves contained the drug. He removed the leaves from the plate and burned them to dust, which he poured into the waste.

"The drug is now destroyed," he said. "It cannot pose any danger even in the waste we fertilize the plants with. You can eat everything else, Madam. I guess you would not enjoy eating the Liri leaves anyway."

Ranalla swallowed and shook her head. Now that the drug had been removed from her body, she could no longer imagine that she had once enjoyed these leaves.

When they had finished their meal, Nabooru came to clear the table.

"Will you come with me, Madam?" she said. "I have something for you."

Ranalla helped her with the dishes and went with her. They brought the dishes to the kitchen, then Nabooru took Ranalla's hand and led her to her room, where Ranalla had been a few months before to borrow her books. Already then she had noticed that Nabooru's room was quite different from the rooms of the guards or those in the Fortress. Nabooru had several pieces of wooden furniture decorated with ornate carvings, and a thin curtain hung in front of the single window in the room. Ranalla had not seen any curtains in any other room in the Temple or the Fortress. Nabooru saw her admiring gaze as Ranalla contemplated the carvings on the furniture, and smiled.

"I like the Hylian style," she said. "When I told Daniel Pierce about that, he rode with me to Master Mutoh's famous carpenter's shop in Kakariko and spent a whole month's pay to buy me this furniture. Master Mutoh himself later brought them to the Fortress with his horse carriage, and Ganondorf helped me with his magical gloves to bring them here."

She went to a dresser and pulled out a drawer. She took out some sort of garment of a colorful fabric, with long ribbons at the corners. Ranalla did not recognize it. From the drawer below, Nabooru took a bag that seemed to have some weight to it.

"This is a _jartij-ri-su-dori_ , Madam Ranalla," she said in Hylian, and showed her the cloth with the ribbons.

 _"Carry my daughter?"_ translated Ranalla, puzzled.

"In your case, of course, it would have to be _jartij-ri-su-dorf_ , right?" Nabooru said giggling. "We mostly call it just _jartij-dori,_ because it's shorter. We carry our little children with it, in order to have our hands free. There are some of cloth and some of leather, but I find cloth more comfortable for a small child, so I got you one of cloth."

She gave Ranalla the carrier and opened the bag. It was a doll of the size of a new-born child, and Nabooru took it in her arm exactly like a child.

"This is a doll we have partially filled with sand, Madam, so it is as heavy as a real child. I want to show you how you can bind your child to your body. Your belly is now at the place where you will have the child later, but that does not matter, we simply bind the _jartij-dori_ higher. And on your back it's always possible, anyway."

Ranalla unfolded the carrier and noticed that it was a simple trapezoidal cloth with long, wide bands sewn at its corners. Then Nabooru helped her tie the doll firmly into the carrier. At first, it was a bit unfamiliar to her, but after a few attempts, she managed and proudly moved her free arms while the doll lay securely and tightly bound against her body.

"And now on your back," said Nabooru. "It basically works just like in the front, only you have to lean a little forward so that the child lies on your back until you have fastened everything."

Ranalla needed a little longer, but in the end she managed to tie the doll just as tightly on her back. She went out into the corridor and ran a couple of times from one end to the other, and the doll sat firmly against her back in the carrier.

"Thank you, Madam Nabooru," she said as she returned to Nabooru's room. "I hope it will also work so well with my child."

"Oh, it will work even better, Madam," said Nabooru, laughing. "Your child will help you, because he is alive and understands what you want from him. You can also feed your son at your breast while you carry him in the front, and many Sisters even let their daughters feed while they ride on horseback."

Nabooru showed her how she could take the child off her back, and made her practice every move, until Ranalla had memorized and mastered them. When they were done, Nabooru wanted to return the doll into the bag, but Ranalla found herself pressing the small, sand-filled body against her chest and stroking its head. She would have to wait three more months, then she would hold the Treasure in her arms, her son...

And then she remembered that the last part of her mission had not yet been fulfilled.

5

The bigger her belly grew, the harder it was for Ranalla to fulfill the training tasks Ganondorf gave her. When fighting with the sword she had the impression that her movements were sluggish, and from the additional weight she tired quickly. From the exercises with the weights, the muscles in her arms and legs had developed, but she longed for a day of doing nothing, like that day when he had given her his magic. By now, she was always carrying a part of his magic in her body, for it had merged with hers, and the _Feeling_ she was experiencing when he kissed her outshone everything she had felt then. But a break for a day...

Since the experience with the cleansing, Ganondorf did not want to leave her alone anymore. He took care that either he or Nabooru was with her all the time. Ranalla wanted to be with him, of course, but a few weeks later he told her after breakfast:

"I want you to stay with Nabooru, Madam, because I have to attend to something. I will see you at lunch."

"Will you go to the Fortress, Your Majesty?" she asked. She did not want to be without him.

"No, Madam. I'll explain later."

He brought her to Nabooru, and they went and fetched their bows and the targets from the equipment room in the horse stables. Ranalla had decided to learn how to ride the course with the targets in the Fortress counterclockwise, and Ganondorf had shown her how to aim with her weak eye. Nabooru also mastered the technique, but was not as good at it as Ganondorf, so she gratefully took the opportunity to practice. It was difficult work, and Ranalla got confused again and again, and then she no longer knew which of her hands should hold the bow and which eye should aim. The arrows flew past the target into the sand, and Ranalla was glad that Sirla was not there.

As the chief of the _Rislan_ had promised, twenty young men had been in the Fortress under the leadership of young Skyr. Although Sirla had conceived from him already in the first night, she had not allowed any of the other Sisters to take his hand, and she had not stopped mocking Ranalla on every occasion because of her alleged incapacity.

When the sun was in zenith, they stopped and went to prepare lunch. Ganondorf came when they were almost finished, and Ranalla was glad to report that already every fifth arrow was hitting the large sand-filled sacks that served as targets for them.

They ate in the living room, then Ganondorf got up and took her hand.

"Come with me, Madam," he said, pulling her with him. He led her into the room where he had shown her the mirror shield several months ago. There he brought the shield, and a leather belt with a hook, from the chest where he kept them, and Ranalla gasped when she saw that it was finished. The last free space on the shield was covered with shimmering feathers, and its surface had turned into a shining mirror. Ganondorf fastened the shield on the belt and put them on the table. From another chest, he fetched a pair of large, solid, leather gloves with metal reinforcements. A bluish shimmering aura clung to them and Ranalla recognized the gloves he had magically enhanced to lift heavy weights.

When Ganondorf had put these on the table too, he sent his magic to Ranalla and pulled her to himself. He kissed the top of her head, and while he embraced her, he bent to her and said softly at her ear:

"Madam, I want you to hide the shield and the gloves in the Temple. Hide them so that I will not find them if I seek them, because then the twins will not find them either. Use the gloves if necessary. You just need to put them on and try to lift the object you want to move. You have to do this task alone, but I will keep an eye on the twins so you will not be disturbed. Build a barrier around you while you move around the Temple. Go to the organ and play _The Longing of the Ren-Bird_ when you're done."

He put the belt with the shield over her shoulders so that the shield lay on her back. Then he took a bag from a shelf on the wall and put the gloves in it. He lay the strap of the bag over her other shoulder, then he kissed her again.

"Good luck, Madam."

He took her hand and led her through the barrier and through the door. When they were in the corridor, he released her hand and gestured for her to build the barrier. Ranalla obeyed, and he departed.

Ranalla thought. She knew the Temple well, but she had not yet explored all its rooms. Ganondorf, who had been living there for almost his whole life, knew it better than she did, and he would find any hiding place when it mattered. She had to find a place that lay literally in front of his eyes, that he or the twins would pass again and again, and where they would never look. In the garden, perhaps? Under the bed? The bed was built so that there was no way to put anything under it from the outside. But if there were a cavity under the bed...

The air flickered before her as she set off under her barrier and made her way to the roof of the Temple. She walked slowly, because the weight of the child was dragging at her body. Despite the hard training, her legs ached as she climbed up the numerous steps and finally reached the roof. Only when she had reached the top did she remember that she could have used her magic to jump over the stairs...

She went into the forest and walked around for a while, for she wanted to see if there was a better place to hide the shield. But she would probably have to bury it, so that he could not find it, for despite the barrier she had built, the shield reflected the sun at every place in the forest where she went, and with the bright colors it was painted with, it could be seen anywhere.

It was strange to go to the pavilion without Ganondorf, and she almost expected that she would find him in bed, waiting for her to make love to her... When she reached the pavilion, however, it was empty. She examined the bed, but it was closed on all sides. It was also not very high, and she guessed that there was no room for the shield.

She remembered the gloves and took them out of the bag at her side. They were made for Ganondorf's large hands, but when she put them on, she felt their power vibrate in her fingers. Carefully, she put her hands with the gloves on the edge of the bed and pushed. She could lift the bed effortlessly and found that beneath the frame was a solid stone base which was part of the rock. There was no room for the shield.

Disappointed, she lowered the bed and put the gloves back into the bag. She had to find another place. Not in the forest. She would have to go through the Temple, one room after another...

Thoughtfully, she stepped through the barrier and walked toward the double doors that led to the inside of the Temple. _In the Temple,_ he had said. He would expect her to hide the shield in the Temple. Did the forest belong to the Temple or not? As she approached the doors, she saw in the distance the yellowish-gray mist of the Wasteland, blocking her view of the Fortress to the east. She went past the doors, to the edge of the rocky platform that formed the roof of the Temple. She could not go to the Fortress alone, because she could not pass through the barrier. It had to be in the valley of the Temple.

Her barrier began to dissolve, and she built a new one. Her gaze fell down upon the great stone bridge in front of the Temple. Should she hide the shield there? One could see it when one looked down from the roof. Her eyes continued looking for a possibility. Perhaps if she hid the shield in a chest, it would at least not shine so brightly... But a chest could be seen, too.

As she was about to turn around, her gaze fell on the breasts of the statue, which protruded from the niche in the rock where it was sitting. Below, Ranalla saw the hands of the Goddess. She remembered her fall in the night when she had performed the _Bonding_ with Ganondorf. She had seen the hands of the statue. Just like the hands of the one inside the Temple, they were large platforms where one could stand...

Ranalla jumped down. Like then, she slowed her fall and tried to float inward. From Ganondorf she had learned to control her flight with her magic, and she landed gently on the right hand of the great statue of the Goddess. She looked around and saw an entrance leading back into the Temple. She knew she had never used this entrance before, and yet it seemed familiar to her.

On the hand of the statue she could put a chest, Ranalla thought. She looked around and noticed that here, too, one could probably see the chest from below. Under the hand were the legs and the lap of the statue; the lap was designed as a folded garment. Ranalla hopped down. The ground was slanting there, but she noticed that the back of the figure was not attached to the rock wall. She climbed over the sloping, uneven ground to the back of the statue and saw that she could step behind it.

That was the right place.

She wanted to remove the bag and the belt with the shield to lay both of them there, but the reflected beam of the shield hit her eyes and dazzled her. It was not good for the shield to lie there openly, she would have to hide it. But even an invisibility barrier would dissolve after some time.

She needed a chest...

She knew where there was a chest. There were even two. With her magic, she jumped up again to the right hand of the statue and went to the entrance she had seen before. She entered a large hall with a red carpet that seemed to lead the way for her. After a few more rooms, stairs, and corridors, she was standing in the room with the inner statue of the Goddess. Ranalla jumped onto one of its hands, to the empty chest that she had found during her wanderings through the Temple. She put the mirror shield in it, then put on the gloves and lifted the heavy chest effortlessly. To be on the safe side, she renewed her invisibility shield and returned with the chest above her head. Soon she was back out onto the hand of the outer Goddess, and jumped down to the lap of the statue and put the chest behind its back. With the aid of the gloves she then brought the second chest, placed it next to the first and hid the bag with the gloves inside it. Then she jumped all the way down to the ground and ran until she was near the invisible burning barrier. From there, she looked at the statue. The chests were not to be seen. She knew that nothing could be seen from above either, for the back of the statue was hidden in the niche.

With the last moments of her barrier, she ran back to the entrance of the Temple, then renewed it. She followed the path she knew to the central point in the Temple, then she went into the room with the organ and dissolved her barrier. With a quick move, she switched on the air supply for the organ and set a loud register.

She had fulfilled her task. Ganondorf would not find the chests.

If the witches with the brooms came up with the idea of flying behind the statue, they might find them, but if they drew from Ganondorf's mind the information that the chests were hidden in the Temple, they would not search outside the Temple. She just hoped that the twins would not look for an answer in her own mind...

Why had he asked her to hide the shield and the gloves? How did he want to defeat the twins without the shield? Was he afraid that they would destroy it if they found it? Confused, she shook her head. She wanted him to come back to her.

She took a deep breath, then she played the familiar notes, and through the ancient Temple echoed the song of the Ren-Bird.


	30. Chapter 30

A/N: So, my friends...  
As I don't like cliffhangers, I will publish the next chapters together.  
In this chapter there are some phrases in Sheikah and Gerudo. You will find the translation at the end of the chapter text.

Enjoy!

 **Chapter 30**

1

 _"Ri-su ruad..."_

He stirred and pressed her body to himself under the covers. She lay in his arm with her back on his chest, and his hand lay on the stretched skin of her belly. Already in the evening she had felt the slight draw in her pelvis, and after Ganondorf had carefully and tenderly made love to her heavily pregnant body, she had fallen asleep in his arms with the certainty that her child would not stay in her belly for another night. And now she had already been lying awake beside him for a while, and had felt the draw again and again, and the ancient instinct in her heritage told her that it was time.

 _"Ri-su ruad..."_ she said again, groaning softly.

His hand on her belly twitched.

 _"Ri-su ruadi?"_ he straightened up and leaned his face toward her. "Is everything all right, Madam?"

"Yes, Your Majesty," she answered with her eyes closed, for the draw was back. It did not hurt, but it was a strong sensation that required concentration. "Our son..."

"Is he coming?" he asked. She noticed that he was trying to stay calm, but his voice betrayed his excitement. "Can I do something for you?"

"Yes, Your Majesty," she said slowly. "Bring... bring some towels."

"Yes, Madam. I'll be right back."

He carefully pulled his arm away from under her and stood up. Gentle light seeped through her eyelids as he sent a whirl to the light ball in the corner of the meadow. She remained on her side, sending her magic to the little creature in her body that she would soon hold in her arms. She felt his joy and longing for her and his father, and the draw flowed through her body, opening it yet a little more.

Ganondorf came back and spread the towels beneath her.

"Can I do anything else, Madam?"

"Yes, Your Majesty. Stay with me, it's easier if you..."

"I know, Madam," he said, and she heard the smile in his voice. "I finished the translation of the last chapter yesterday, and Andyr Kendrice describes quite accurately what is helpful."

For a moment, she wondered how Andyr Kendrice had such knowledge. But if he was Sheikah...

Ganondorf helped her turn on her back and straighten up. Then he sat behind her, and she leaned her back against his chest.

The draw returned, and her thoughts broke. She reached for his hand and pressed it tightly.

 _"Ri-su..."_

But in this state she could no longer speak Gerudo.

"Speak Sheikah, Madam," she heard him say softly at her ear, and he kissed the side of her neck. He knew...

 _"Sarili mi, Lorin ill Deron..."_ she breathed, as the draw reached its peak and passed. _"Drili mi... Andryli mi... sa wili Drisani."_

"With pleasure, Madam," he whispered in Sheikah. She felt him slightly change his position at her back, supporting her with one arm. He pulled her body a little closer to him, so that her head was higher, and then he gave her his lips. Before he touched her, she felt a new wave of the draw that opened her inside for the arrival of the Treasure, but the _Feeling_ swept away any unpleasant sensations as Ganondorf's tongue caressed hers. She felt his magic come to her and touch her, and the pain, which was none, swelled as if it were glad.

Ganondorf kissed her for a long time, and then she felt his other hand wander gently down to fulfill her wish. Slowly, his fingers approached the place that was longing for them and was pulsing in the rhythm of her blood. He reached it, and his fingers pressed gently upon it, and his touch made a shiver run through her body. His lips broke away from her, then he kissed her again to elicit the _Feeling_ anew. As it surged through her body, his fingers entered and moved exactly as it was right for her. He did it slowly and quietly, and her muscles tightened in the splendid anticipation of fulfillment, and helped the Treasure to begin his journey. A sweet, powerful pain made her groan under his lips as she felt the tiny, yet large, head of her child thrust forward inside her.

 _Slowly... slowly... come, my little one..._

As if reading her thoughts, his hand grew even slower, and she felt the first delicate waves pour through her body. The little hairs on her skin rose and she trembled as the next thrust widened her inside. She felt Ganondorf flinch slightly and his fingers pulled back a little.

"I can feel him, Madam," he said on her lips and kissed her. The _Feeling_ drowned the next thrust, and then her arms tightened, holding on to him, as fulfillment blazed through her body with overwhelming power. She groaned and whimpered, her body twitching and rearing up under his hands. Ganondorf's arm around her suddenly stiffened, and she felt him twitch again. After a long time his lips broke from hers, and his hand had ceased to move.

"He's arrived, Madam," he breathed, and then he pressed his lips onto hers again. This time, there was only the _Feeling,_ and she knew he had told the truth. Slowly, she opened her eyes as he pulled away from her, and she looked before her, where he had spread the towels. Ganondorf's hand lay on the tiny head of the Treasure, stroking it. The legs were not out yet, and Ranalla leaned toward her child and pulled him completely out of herself. When she put the Treasure to her breast, she felt Ganondorf's magic enveloping them both.

Fine, light-blond hair covered the little head, and huge, bright-blue eyes gazed into hers. Ranalla looked at him, fascinated, and she felt as if the entire knowledge of the universe lay there in the gaze of those blue eyes. A mighty wave of love for this new being that she had created with Ganondorf burst through her body. Ganondorf pulled the covers over them both, and the Treasure closed his eyes and began to nurse. Other, much gentler waves flowed through her body as it ended the birth and separated from the part that had accompanied the Treasure during pregnancy.

 _"Renlin Kerdis,"_ said Ganondorf. "That is his name."

 _"Tagriju Ren-Daltin,"_ Ranalla translated to Gerudo.

 _I seek the Ren-Bird._

When Renlin had fallen asleep and the pulse in the umbilical cord had calmed down, Ganondorf brought a knife to cut it. He pulled the whirl from the light sphere, then he put his arms around Ranalla and Renlin, and the two, who had awakened as a couple, fell asleep as a family of three.

2

When she awoke, it was still night. She looked up at the sky and saw the four bright stars in the great square of the Winged Horse glittering through the gleaming red and white wall that enclosed the world. She rose and looked at the three figures lying together under the covers. A little creature with bright hair had arrived, whom she did not know. She hovered above the bed, looking at his cute face with that tiny mouth; small, pointed ears; and delicate fists laying beside his cheeks. The woman held the being in her arms and her lips were at his crown. The tall, beautiful man held both in his arms and was sleeping peacefully beside them.

A sound drew Ranalla out of her contemplation, and she looked around. Nothing was to be seen, but the sound repeated. It came from above, and when she flew out of the pavilion, she saw the two flying figures she knew. They were again surrounded by the odd, transparent shell with red and white streaks whirling around each other. Slowly, they sank down on their broomsticks and hovered inside the pavilion.

"I told you he was born," she heard one figure hiss. "I felt it!"

It was the figure with the red gem on the forehead that had spoken.

"I felt it, too," replied the other figure, "but we had to wait until she gave him her milk, Koume. They are sleeping now, and we can take him with us."

"But if the King wakes up..."

"He's sound asleep, Koume. Look, no eye movements. And with the dreams that I saw in his mind, he would not wake up anyway, do not worry," she said with a hissing giggle.

"And what about her? You know, mothers have that special sense. They notice things like that. How shall we take the child out of her arms? Look how tightly she is holding him!"

"We stun her, then we take the child."

"Why is she not dead? She was supposed to be dead long ago. You used too little of the drug, Kotake!"

"And who is to feed the child? There is no Sister here who has just birthed a child, as it was when the King was born. And we cannot produce milk in this shape either, Koume. Why do I always have to explain the simplest things to you?"

"But when the Master has his body, he will transform us again, then we can also produce milk for him. We can feed the Master ourselves, Kotake! What do we need the woman for? Admit it, you miscalculated the amount of the drug."

"Oh, be quiet, Koume. And if I did, so what! She will die when the drug reaches the right level. Once the Master has his body, there's nothing they can do, anyway. Come, let us get the child, or the King will wake up. We cannot fight him now, the Master is on his way and will be waiting."

Ranalla saw the figure with the white gem put her finger on the woman's forehead. A dark whirl broke from the finger and seeped into the forehead of the woman in the man's arms. A strange unease seized Ranalla as she saw the figure taking the new creature out of the woman's arms and producing her broomstick.

"Come on now," she hissed, and they both flew up on their broomsticks.

Ranalla wanted to see where they brought the little creature, and followed them. She flew behind them, and soon she recognized the way, through the opening in the great statue, the hall behind it, and the many corridors to the door protected by the red and white wall. Behind it was the room with the pedestal of dark stone, which she did not like, but the figures flew farther, through the metal door in the opposite wall, and also through the next room.

Ranalla saw another metal door. The figures opened it, and behind it Ranalla recognized a white glowing wall like the one that surrounded the forest on the roof. She hesitated at first, but she had to know what the figures wanted to do with the little being. Quickly, she followed them, and as she flew through the luminous wall, she felt as though she were flying through thick spiderwebs.

On the other side there was a room she did not know. It was almost empty, but a circle of violet light lay on the ground in the middle. Inside the circle Ranalla saw the book with the silver ornaments she had seen before. Beside it she noticed something glimmering, and as she flew nearer, she saw there the dagger that she had only seen inside its sheath before. Its blade was covered with dark signs, flowing around each other like ugly vines that seemed to argue about the blade. The figure with the white gem flew into the circle, then she let her broom disappear and placed the little creature in the middle, between the book and the dagger. When the creature touched the ground, it opened its eyes, and when Ranalla saw the blue in them, a terrible realization hit her. She _knew_ those eyes, she had seen them before!

The other figure also flew into the circle, where its broom vanished. Both fell on their knees with their crooked legs and laid their heads with their beak-shaped noses on the ground.

"We are ready, Master," they both said in chorus.

Captivated, Ranalla looked at the scene, but the restlessness that had gripped her was gnawing at her mind. She had to do something, quickly...

 _"Ri-su ruadi, at-spartij!"_

 _No, not now, she could not go back now!_

She knew who was calling her. It was the beautiful man up there, who was holding the woman in his arms. His voice was loud and she felt his fear. When he sounded like that, he wanted to speak to her, but she could not leave now. At any moment, something would happen with the little creature, and she had to look!

 _"At-spartij, ri-su ruadi! Rimo-su dorf at-nentril sijut!"_

Something was not right, she felt it in his voice. But he spoke words that she did not understand. She had to make him speak the other words...

She broke away from the scene in the circle of violet light and flew back through the many rooms and corridors, up to the roof, through the forest to the pavilion, where the man was sitting upright in bed, holding the woman in his arms. He shook her and kept calling his panicky words, but the woman lay lifeless in his arms and did not move. Ranalla saw the man's eyes twitching restlessly, and his hand went over his face as if he could not make up his mind. Then a thought seemed to come to him, and he looked at the woman again.

"Madam, please, wake up!" he pleaded, and this time Ranalla understood him. "Madam Ranalla, please, I cannot leave you here. Please, wake up, Madam!"

Now Ranalla knew he was talking to her. He was looking at the woman, but he said her name, and she knew she could only answer him if she... if she...

As fast as she could, she sank in and opened her eyes.

3

She saw his eyes, but he pressed her to himself, and she felt his relief and his fear at the same time.

"Can you walk, Madam?" he asked hastily. "The twins have kidnapped Renlin, we must seek him!"

 _Renlin..._

Her heart almost stopped and she gasped. She had fallen asleep with Renlin close to Ganondorf. Renlin had been in her arms, how had they...

"I know where he is!" she whispered and clawed her trembling fingers in Ganondorf's arms. "Come, Your Majesty!" She took his hand and jumped up. A violent pain exploded in her head, and she staggered backwards.

"Where is he, Madam? I'll go and get him!"

"He's in the back, behind the laboratory, in the empty room, Your Majesty, but I'm coming with you. Help me, I'll be all right in a moment. They have stunned me."

She had seen Renlin, and the deep blue in his eyes had caused her to remember everything her mind had seen.

She rose from the bed and he held her. He sent his magic to her and supported her, and her head became clear again. She nodded, and they ran over the path in the grass, out of the forest, then over the roof of the Temple to the edge, for Ranalla suspected that the path over the hand of the statue was shorter. They jumped down and slowed their fall until they landed on the hand of the statue from where Ranalla had hidden the chests with the mirror and the gloves. She tried not to look there where the chests were hidden, and pulled Ganondorf through the opening into the great hall behind it, then through the corridors. She remembered the way, and Ganondorf knew it, of course, and they reached the door with the burning barrier. Ganondorf held her hand and opened the door with the other, then they ran through the chamber with the altar and through the laboratory in the next room. At the back of the room was another iron door, but when Ganondorf tried to open it, he found it was locked. He pushed Ranalla back a few paces, then raised his arm, but she knew what was behind the door.

"Don't!" she cried, but full of anger, he threw a big, blue magic ball at the door. With a loud crash, it flew out of its hinges and into the next room, where it fell to the ground. Ganondorf turned and took Ranalla's hand, then pulled her into the dark room on the other side. Terrified, she recognized the slight nausea, which indicated to her that she had passed an invisible time barrier.

On the ground was the circle of violet light, and in the middle of the circle lay Renlin, screaming. To his sides still lay the dagger and the book, and the two witches were crouching on the ground in front of him. Ranalla heard them shout something with their shrill voices, and she tore her hand out of Ganondorf's hand and ran to the circle.

"No, Madam," Ganondorf shouted, throwing himself at her to hold her back. But she broke loose and ran on.

"Stop, Madam, there's a burning barrier!" she heard him call.

But she could not care about a barrier now. There was Renlin, and his crying pierced her marrow and bone. She ran on and reached out to him with her arms, and then Ganondorf's arms grabbed her from behind, just as her hands hit the barrier and the burning spines scorched her skin. She screamed with pain and sank to her knees, but Ganondorf dragged her away from the barrier and flung her to the ground.

"It will kill you, Madam!" he shouted.

"Renlin!" Ranalla screamed through her tears, trying to get up. Her hands were burning and she could barely bear the pain, but Ganondorf put his arms around her and held her tight.

"Please, Your Majesty, they will hurt him!"

She trembled and felt the horror flood her mind.

"I cannot penetrate the barrier, Madam."

"Why not?" Ranalla shouted and wriggled out of his arms. She called her magic and threw a ball against the barrier, but it seeped into it like a snowball melting in hot water.

"Because it does not let anyone through, Madam, not even me! We can't do anything, they are stronger than me!" he said, taking her hands.

"But together we are stronger than them, Your Majesty!" she cried, her hands trembling in his. "We are bound! Please, help me!"

Ganondorf gasped and seemed to have an idea, and at that moment a loud ringing sounded from the center of the circle. They looked there, and Ranalla saw the ground within the circle vibrate in concentric waves starting from the book. Her heart pounded against her ribs and her hands hurt, but she could only stare as if stunned at the ground, crinkling and undulating under the small body of her son, like a flag in the wind.

"Madam!" she heard Ganondorf's urgent voice. "We must unite our magic. Give me your magic!" He pulled her to her feet and kissed her, and Ranalla had to defy the rush of the _Feeling_ and focus on her magic. She let her entire magic flow to him, and he broke away from her. His body trembled and he threw back his head as her magic rushed with blue whirls over his body. Never had she been without her magic, and its absence overwhelmed her. Suddenly she felt small and empty, cold and exhausted, and dead.

She sank to her knees again and had to rest her body on her burning hands, where she also felt the floor vibrating. She heard Ganondorf's scream as he raised his arms and hurled a large, glowing white ball at the barrier. The concentrated magic flowed across the barrier like a glaringly bright waterfall, and seeped into the ground. It was not enough...

But Ganondorf screamed again and stepped closer to the barrier. Another blazing white ball broke loose from his hands and clashed at the barrier, hissing. Then Ranalla felt that the movement of the ground was changing. It was no longer a vibration, but the floor shuddered violently and shook her body. She tried to get up, and looked into the circle, swaying. The book beside Renlin's body was open, and on its pages had appeared a dark spot that was growing.

"Master!" the two witches shouted suddenly. "Emerge, your body is ready!"

"No!" Ranalla screamed. "Renlin! Oh Hylia, help me!"

From the dark spot on the book rose a shadow, a presence that Ranalla could perceive only at the edge of her consciousness. It grew larger and flowed upward, spread inside the barrier, and filled it. Ranalla could still see Renlin and the two witches, but the violet light had darkened and condensed.

Ganondorf hurled another ball at the barrier, and this time the dark light inside it shuddered. He stepped closer, and Ranalla saw one of the witches rising. It was Kotake, and she took the dagger and stepped toward Renlin. She knelt before him and raised the dagger in the air with both hands. Ranalla recognized the dark tendrils that were now waving across the blade of the dagger and seemed to attract the shadow in the air.

"Your Majesty," cried Ranalla, sobbing. "Please..."

Ganondorf grasped his head with both hands, thinking feverishly, then stepped resolutely to the barrier and pressed his hands upon it. His scream drowned the drone within the barrier along with Renlin's crying, and the magic broke from his hands, whirling through the barrier. He pushed at it, and then Ranalla saw his hands pass through. Kotake's dagger was gathering the darkness out of the air, and the tendrils on the blade whirled angrily around each other, while the droning swelled, taking on an ever-higher pitch. The floor had ceased to vibrate, but the searing sound that filled the room hurt Ranalla's ears and pierced her soul. Full of pain, she put her burnt hands on her ears and sank to the ground, but she straightened up again to watch Ganondorf, panting. His arms had penetrated the barrier, and she could still hear him scream through her hands on her ears, but then he finally had passed completely through the barrier. The dagger had absorbed the darkness, and Ranalla noticed with horror the black, pulsating aura that surrounded it. When Ganondorf was inside the barrier, Koume rose, and her broom was suddenly in her hand. She threw a glowing, flaming whirl at Ganondorf, but he ducked, and the whirl dissolved with a hiss in the barrier. Time slowed, and Kotake lowered the dagger to Renlin's chest, whose little face was distorted with fear as he screamed in a shrill, hoarse voice, his arms trembling in the air. Ranalla saw Ganondorf lift away Renlin, just as Kotake's dagger would have reached him. The dagger hit the ground, but Kotake then whirled around and tried to stab Renlin in Ganondorf's arms. He raised up Renlin, taking him out of her reach, and the dagger hit Ganondorf's chest and bored between his ribs with a hissing, crackling sound. He sank to his knees, with his face twisted in pain, and at that moment the droning suddenly changed to a high, sighing hiss, and the dark aura of the dagger began to spread over Ganondorf's body in black streaks. Blood sprang out of the wound and ran over his chest and stomach, and Ranalla screamed in horror, her hands muffling her own screams from her ears.

Kotake backed away from Ganondorf and bounced against Koume, who was floating behind her, and they fell together against the wall of the barrier, which surrounded them with hissing white and red whirls.

"Madam!" Ganondorf shouted. "Help me, Madam!"

She took her hands from her ears, and wanted to rise, but her limbs were heavy like lead, and laboriously she crawled to the barrier. While the black streaks waved slowly over his body, Ganondorf wiped the blood from his wound with one hand. He stroked Renlin's face, then a thick blue whirl broke from his fingers and surrounded the child with a firm barrier through which Ranalla could barely see him. With his teeth clenched and his face still distorted with pain, Ganondorf reached his arms through the burning barrier and gave her the child. Groaning, he stroked her cheek with his bloody hand, and her tears cut their way through his blood and fell in red drops on her chest.

 _"Andrys... Ranalla... mil Natiar..."_ he breathed, while the black streaks from the dagger in his chest consumed more and more of him at every moment.

"Your Majesty!" cried Ranalla. Her arms were trembling, and the magical barrier around Renlin dissolved. "I cannot..."

"Flee... Madam. I will... stop them. I'll... find... you."

4

She pressed Renlin to her chest, then she gathered the last of her strength and ran through the empty doorway and through the time barrier. At the edge of her consciousness she was expecting the feeling of dizziness, but this time it was missing, and with a stab she remembered that she had left her magic with Ganondorf. But she had to move on. The high, painful tone faded behind her as she crossed the laboratory and came into the room with the altar. She ran past the dark podium and opened the door, and only a few paces later she remembered the burning barrier that should have hurt her. Confused, she stopped and looked at Renlin in her arms, who had calmed down. Ganondorf's blood on his forehead already began to dry, and suddenly she understood why he had done it. With a jerk, she ripped herself out of her stiffness and ran on, through the corridors, up the stairs, until she came to the double door that led to the roof. She ran into the forest and straight to the little garden house. From her dresser, she fetched her combat suit and the carrier that Nabooru had given her. She put Renlin on the ground, got into her suit, then she tied Renlin on her back with her burning hands. She knew he would get hungry soon, but she would have to have left the Temple by then, for this was the last part of her mission.

She had to take the Treasure to safety.

Her riding boots were in the pavilion, and she ran there, put them on hurriedly, and left the forest. On the horizon, she could see the first reddish streaks of the morning coming so early at this time of the year. She ran through the double doors and down the stairs to the living room. There she took the belt with Ganondorf's smaller sword out of the closet, and also the little sword from Aryl. As she passed Ganondorf's desk, she took the Sheikah grammar she had written for him, and Sirla's ocarina, which was lying next to it. She realized with dismay that she did not expect to ever come back, and her tears burned hot on her cheeks while they slowly washed Ganondorf's blood from her face. Grimly, she turned around and left the living room, which had become so familiar to her.

The corridors were quiet, and she ran down through the darkness, through the entrance, and then to the right, to the stables. Hastily, she saddled Druja and put her bridle on, then she tucked the book, the ocarina, and the small sword into the saddlebags, and tied the belt with her sword on the saddle. She also took the bow and the quiverful of arrows and tied both on Druja's other side. With rapid steps she led the mare out and mounted her hastily using the rock in the corner. Renlin began to whimper softly, and she knew he wanted to feed. But now it was not possible, for she had to hurry.

With an anxious heart, she drove Druja toward the embankment at a gallop, and for the first time, she passed the burning barrier without Ganondorf, and rode across the elevated part of the valley. Ganondorf's blood on her cheek triggered the mark, and out of habit, Druja followed the fine blue line over the sand through the Haunted Wasteland. When they reached the gate of the Fortress, it was almost light, and the sun would rise soon. Ranalla heard the voice of the guard, and the gate went up. A Sister came to meet her as she rode into the courtyard, but she pushed her thighs into Druja's sides and raced past the bewildered woman and into the hollow path.

 _"Ri-su ruadi!"_ she heard the Sister call behind her, and then further cries that ordered the other guards to stop Ranalla. She rode at a wild gallop through the hollow path and through the Gerudo Valley to the bridge.

On the bridge she saw Weri and Sirla standing guard. Their eyes widened as they saw Ranalla approaching.

"Sheikah!" Weri shouted, as Ranalla slowed in front of the bridge. "What happened? You cannot get through the barrier! Where is the King?"

"The twins want to kill his son. He fights them and tries to stop them. He has given me his blood, for I must bring his son to safety!"

"Where are you going?"

"The King knows where he can find me. Let me pass, please!"

Frowning, they stepped aside, and Ranalla let Druja walk carefully through the barrier over the steps and over the bridge.

"Let her through!" Weri shouted to the other guards, and Ranalla drove Druja to the other side as quickly as possible. The guards stood aside in astonishment, and she urged Druja to a gallop again. Renlin now became unsettled and fidgeted impatiently on her back. As she turned the corner to the narrow path between the rocks that led to the Hyrule Field, she heard the horses of the other Sisters who were following her from the Fortress. As she rode between the rocks, however, the sound faded, and she hoped that Weri had stopped the Sisters.

Then she was on the Field. The sun had risen above the horizon and shone on the gentle hills, which she had seen for the first time almost a year ago. She had been there with Ganondorf at her side, whom she loved... and who was now possessed by the Daemon...

...the Daemon that wanted her son's body in order to enter the world.

Ranalla shuddered in horror as the parts of the puzzle fell into place in her mind.

 _That_ was the reason why the twin sisters had been so obsessed with the idea of bringing this child into the world! From the beginning, they had just wanted to make a body for the Daemon that was able to propagate. They had induced Ganondorf's mother to seduce King Regar in order to obtain the Gift of Magic, and they used the point in time that promised the appearance of a male Gerudo.

For how long had they been pursuing this plan already? Did they know that it was the body of the Treasure himself that the Daemon had almost obtained?

Did the Daemon know?

Renlin's crying pulled her out of her horrid thoughts. He was hungry and she had to feed him. Could she do it while she rode on? She had to be fast! But were should she go? To Castle Town? She would need three days, and she could not hide there. She had no magic and she could not conceal herself, and everybody would immediately recognize her as a Sheikah. Rauru had instructed her that no one must know of her mission, and she could not even go to Impa!

 _But perhaps..._

A slight hope stirred in her mind. He was strong. He had her magic and he could do it. He could defeat the two witches, he could...

But then she remembered that he no longer had the mirror shield. Defiantly, she blinked back her tears. She could not deal with that now. First, she had to take the Treasure to safety, somewhere the Daemon could not reach him.

 _Rauru..._

She knew Castle Town lay north-east. She would first ride east, until she met the road leading north to the capital. Rauru had been waiting for her at the crossroads, when she had ventured into the desert. Maybe she could find him when she went back there...

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

A/N: Translation of the Sheikah and Gerudo phrases:

 _Sarili mi, Lorin ill Deron... - Kiss me, Son of the God...  
_ _Drili mi... Andryli mi... sa wili Drisani. - Touch me... Love me... with your hands.  
_  
 _Ri-su ruadi, at-spartij! - My Qeen, wake up!  
_ _At-spartij, ri-su ruadi! Rimo-su dorf at-nentril sijut! - Wake up, my Queen! They have taken our son!"  
_

 _Andrys... Ranalla... mil Natiar... - I love you... Ranalla... my life...  
_


	31. Chapter 31

**Chapter 31**

1

When she thought she was far enough from Gerudo Valley, she stopped by a wall that supported a slope. She drove Druja into the dense bushes in front of the wall, then dismounted and nursed Renlin in her arms. While he fed, she examined her still-burning hands. She did not know the effects of the evil magic of the burning barrier, because Ganondorf had immediately healed the injuries that she had received the first time.

When Renlin was full and had fallen asleep, she tied him on her back with the carrier, and rode on. She had to stop this way three more times, and several times she let him feed while Druja ran at a light gallop and he was in the carrier in her front.

Like this she had ridden eastward for almost a whole day. No one seemed to pursue her, but she had not dared to rest any longer than absolutely necessary to feed Renlin. Again and again, she had watched the horizon from the tops of the hills that she crossed, but apart from birds and small animals, the vast Hyrule Field had been empty. She was grateful that she had not met any other travelers, because without her magic she could not make herself invisible.

As the long midsummer day slowly came to an end, Ranalla halted once more to nurse Renlin in a more comfortable position. There were no bushes for far and wide that could serve as hiding-places, so she descended near a lonely tree at the foot of a hill. Countless boulders covered the slope of the hill, and she wondered if she should ride a little further and hide between the rocks, but Renlin on her back was fussing from hunger, and all her bones hurt. She dismounted, took Renlin out of the carrier, sat down on the ground, and leaned against the tree trunk.

Renlin began to feed greedily, and Druja was grazing nearby. Rosy daisies and bright yellow dandelions grew around the tree, and while Renlin's bright blue eyes closed, Ranalla chewed the bitter leaves of the flowers to soothe her own growling stomach. As she gazed at the sun that was approaching the horizon far in the north-west, she remembered with sadness that the longest day of the year was a week from then. She had planned to dance the sword dance with Ganondorf at the celebration of the Sun Festival, and she had rehearsed some songs on the ocarina that she had planned to perform together with Rista and Laira...

Gloomily, she swallowed the sobs that were pressing in her throat, and looked back at Renlin in her arms. He had fallen asleep, and she gently detached him from her breast and closed her combat suit. She knew she was supposed to get up and tie Renlin into the carrier, to find a shelter for the night, but her eyelids were heavy. She had been riding all day, and Druja was also tired. Perhaps she could still sit for a little while, and sleep just a little...

A sound above her startled her, and her eyes flew open. She looked up and saw the large, brown wings of a huge owl. It settled on the tree above Ranalla, and her heart jumped for joy.

"Kaepora!" she exclaimed.

"You must leave, my daughter," he said with his clear voice. "The Daemon and the renegade sisters pursue you! He had his horse seek you, and now he has your track and is approaching quickly!"

Fear rushed through Ranalla's mind, and she rose.

"Where shall I go, Kaepora?" she called to the owl on the tree as she tied the Treasure on her back. "To Castle Town? He will find me anywhere!"

She ran to Druja and swung herself into the saddle.

"Go further east to the Kokiri Forest, my daughter," he replied. "It is not far from here. You will find the entrance between two large tree trunks, and a strong barrier is between them. I will fly to the Great Deku Tree and ask him to let you in."

"But Ganondorf has my magic, Kaepora. He is much stronger than me, maybe he can break the barrier!"

"Not in his present form, my daughter. Quickly now, ride fast!"

She had slept and so it was already late in the evening, but the sun had not yet sunk. Could she still reach the forest? She pressed her thighs into Druja's sides to make her gallop eastward, up the hill, through the boulders. When she looked around at the top of the hill, she saw him. He was still a long way off, but he was approaching quickly, and Ranalla knew how fast Sardun was. Ganondorf was a dark figure on his back, and she heard his furious cries as he pushed his great horse. Ranalla had never heard him scream when he rode on Sardun, and she was shivering with horror. Downhill, Druja was faster, but she constantly had to avoid the large boulders, and soon Ranalla heard Sardun's hoofs behind her. Desperately, she followed her way and did not dare to turn around, for she was afraid of the sight that awaited her.

"Stop!" she heard his voice, but it was not his voice. It was deep and dark, cold and full of anger. The terrain was flat again now, and there were fewer boulders in her way. Her muscles tightened, and she rose from the saddle and leaned forward as Druja entered a fast gallop. In her mind, she thanked Nabooru for the carrier that made it possible for her to carry Renlin safely and still have her hands free. She heard Sardun's hoofs catch up behind her, and tears came into her eyes.

"Obey!" his voice thundered behind her, and then he was beside her. From the corner of her eye, she saw his dark shape draw the long sword from its sheath with a hissing sound. He came closer, but her sword lay ready in its sheath on her saddle, and she pulled it out. She knew he would not hit her back because he did not want to hurt the body of the child, but he would not hesitate to hurt _her._

She dared to cast a short glance to the side, and was frightened. His beautiful face was streaked with dark lines, his long, red hair was hanging tangled around his face, and his eyes were burning in their sockets like liquid fire. He wore his dark desert suit and lunged out with his long sword to slash at her head. She parried his blow as she had learned from him, but he broke into a hideous laughter that made her blood freeze. He struck again, and Ranalla had Druja dodge quickly.

"Oh, he trained you well, Sheikah," she heard his gloomy words, and his voice echoed in her ears and in her mind. "But you will not escape me. I have his magic and your magic, and soon I will have the body that belongs to me!"

He lunged out again, and Ranalla had Druja sidestep while she rode to the side. Immediately afterwards, she sidestepped again and continued galloping eastward. Ranalla looked forward, and in the light of the red sun behind her, she saw the two huge tree trunks Kaepora Gaebora had mentioned.

Renlin on her back had awoken and was crying with fear because of Druja's jerky movements. The Daemon in Ganondorf's body was closing in again. Ranalla looked to the side again and saw him raise his hand and conjure a dark, violet whirl. A radiant sphere formed out of the dark magic, and then he cast it at Druja's body. Druja was frightened and jumped sidewards, then she surged forward with wild jumps. Ranalla was thrown back and forth in the saddle, and she grabbed Druja's mane and held on so as not to be unsaddled. Another magical ball flew towards her, and she swiftly held her sword in position and hurled the ball back. It flew to Ganondorf and hit him in his chest. He screamed as the hissing whirls ran across his body, and Ranalla sped past him toward the two trunks. But after a short time he was again beside her, and with his mighty sword he struck at her neck in a round blow. She tried to parry with her sword, but the force of his blow flung the blade from her hand and hurled it far away. From the corner of her eye, Ranalla saw it shatter on one of the boulders and fall to the ground. The Daemon struck again, and Ranalla dodged his blow, but he threw another magic ball at her. With a jerk, Druja stopped, and Ranalla was thrown forward with inertia. She flew through the air and saw the ground racing toward her, but she stopped in the air just before the ground, for something had caught her. Perplexed, she looked around and saw Ganondorf's hand, which had built a blue barrier that was holding her. Slowly, she sank to the ground.

 _"Run, Madam!"_ he cried, and this time it was his voice.

"Your Majesty," she cried, trembling and panting for air.

 _"Run, Madam! I'll find you!"_

She set off reluctantly, but the great horse had reached her. The Daemon struck with his sword at her, and it cut deep into her arm. She screamed in pain and ran on, trying to avoid the big sword, but the Daemon's horse chased her, and then it was beside her again. She saw from the side the sword that would hit her neck, and in a moment of clarity, she stopped. The sword missed her neck and cut into her abdomen. She fell to her knees and vaguely heard Renlin's screams and Ganondorf's desperate voice.

 _"Get up, Madam! Please! Run!"_

He had turned his horse and approached her from the front. She saw him form a magical ball that hit her before she could stand up, and she froze. She wanted to get up and run as he had told her, but no muscle in her body wanted to obey her. Luminous, violet whirls wound around her body and fettered it.

She was badly injured and she had no magic, and he would reach her and take with him her son, the Treasure, the Chosen Hero, whom she should have saved.

But she had failed.

She had given herself up to her love for this man, whom the Daemon had taken over. The Daemon, who would kill her now.

He had stopped, and she heard a hiss as he put his sword into its sheath. The sun was but a narrow, luminous line on the horizon, and its red light colored his disfigured face as he descended and walked toward her with a malicious smile. She looked up at him as she had done on the bridge, when she had wanted him so much. He went down on his knee before her, and his hand came to her face. Icy coldness radiated from him as he touched her. He wiped her cheek where his blood was, and she could not resist. From a sheath on his belt, he took the dagger with the black marks on the blade, then he rose, went to her back and cut the ribbons of the carrier. Only now did Renlin's crying reach her consciousness, and she felt the blood flow from the wounds in her rigid body.

"I will take over my body, then I will kill you and your King. But I will keep your magic and it will obey me, once I have cleaned it. Together with the hollow body it will help me stay in the world until I have exterminated this abominable Attraction that destroys my universe."

His dark, insane voice was at her ear, then he stepped with Renlin in front of her. He raised his free arm, and two bright whirls, one white and one red, broke from his fingers and shot hissing up into the sky. Then he sank to his knees, put the Treasure on the ground, and without hesitation, he stabbed the dagger at the spot where Kotake had hit Ganondorf. The dark presence began to gather in the dagger, and Ranalla watched with frozen eyes as the streaks withdrew from Ganondorf's face. It was almost dark now, and only the afterglow of sunset in the north-west illuminated his tall figure.

The sound of large wings suddenly broke into Ranalla's consciousness. The great owl rushed at a frantic speed at Ganondorf, who swayed and pulled the dagger out of his body. His cry tore through the air and drowned Renlin's weeping, as he rose furiously. He ran to Sardun and drew the sword from the sheath on the saddle. Kaepora threw himself upon him again with a wild cry, and Ganondorf slashed with his sword at him.

"He has called the twins, my daughter!" Kaepora exclaimed. "You must break the spell, or else they will take the child! Call the magic!"

She had no magic. She had given Ganondorf everything she had, her body was empty...

"Call the magic, you can do it!"

The owl attacked Ganondorf and scratched his face with its claws. Screaming, Ganondorf slashed wildly around himself with his sword, and his eyes glowed in the dim light. He tried to hit Kaepora with his magic balls, but the owl dodged them and rushed back at him. Ranalla realized that Kaepora was luring Ganondorf away from Renlin while ever distracting him with new attacks.

 _Call the magic..._

Why hadn't he said _your magic?_

Because he knew she did not have any magic.

What magic should she call? Ganondorf's magic? He was too far away, and he would not allow it.

But whom had Kaepora meant?

Without her magic, it was hard to concentrate and look for the fine waves of the magical field. She could not close her eyes to support her concentration, for the spell did not even allow her to carry out this simple movement. But she was Sheikah, and she had been born with the ability to perceive magic. She just had to open this sense, expand it, search...

 _There!_ Just before her, she saw a bright field of pure, fresh magic that warmed her heart.

 _His_ magic!

She sent her awareness to him and felt his magic, just like when he had still been in her body. He cried and screamed, but his magic came to her, and she shuddered in her stiffness, for his magic felt so much like the magic of Ganondorf's that she so loved!

With a jerk, she forced her body out of the magical palsy, and the pain of her wounds nearly overwhelmed her. She fell forward and leaned on her healthy arm. Around her, the ground was soaked by her blood, which was flowing in black streams in the darkness from her belly and her arm. She closed her eyes to dispel the dizziness, then she slowly crept forward to Renlin. Behind her, she heard the whir of the magical broomsticks, and knew she had mere moments. She reached her son, picked him up, and clenched her teeth as she had to lean on her injured arm to stand up. A quick glance at Ganondorf showed her that he was still fighting Kaepora Gaebora, but Kotake and Koume were sweeping around her in tight circles. She pressed Renlin to herself with her healthy arm and supported him with her wounded one. The entrance to the Kokiri Forest was about a hundred paces away, and she set off. She hoped that the twins would not attack her, so as not to hurt the child. However, the dizziness from the pain and the blood loss hindered her progress, and she had to stop again and again to get her eyes clear. She knew that Ganondorf's sword was enchanted, like all the swords of the Gerudo, and that the wound on her stomach would be deadly if it were not healed.

She also hoped that Kaepora Gaebora had induced the Deku tree to open the barrier between the trunks for her. She had to run twenty more paces, and she could not faint. The twins were circling her on their brooms, bumping against her shoulders and her back to bring her down, and they would seize Renlin at once if she let him go.

Behind her came the shrill cry of the owl, then she heard the large, heavy steps she knew so well. He growled loudly, and she feared that she would be hit by another spell at any moment.

 _Please..._

She heard his breath behind her, and his fingers grabbed her shoulder and whirled her around. The dizziness darkened her gaze, but Renlin lay firmly in her arm, and she called Renlin's magic and wrenched herself from his grasp.

Five more steps. Four more. Two...

Another shrill cry from the owl behind her almost made her stumble from fright, but Ganondorf's furious growl rekindled her hope. She saw the witches on their brooms bounce against an invisible wall, then they flew into the sky, swearing and cursing. Without hesitation, Ranalla took the last two steps and felt a gentle, cool layer that enveloped her and pulled her into the rescuing arms of the forest.

2

It was so quiet!

She fell to her knees with Renlin in her arms, and it grew dark before her eyes. At that moment, she realized with overwhelming certainty that she was going to die.

But not just yet.

She could not stay here. As her eyes became clearer again, she looked up at the sky and saw the first stars flickering there. A flying shadow came down to her and stopped in front of her.

"The Great Deku tree will help you, my daughter," she heard the voice of Kaepora Gaebora. "His children are waiting for you. Come, it's not far."

She felt her senses vanish and wanted to reach for Renlin's magic, but he had fallen asleep from exhaustion. She shook herself awkwardly to expel the dizziness, and from the jolt, Renlin awoke and began to cry again. Instantly, his magic was back with her, and full of gratitude, she let it wrap around her while the dizziness faded.

With difficulty, she rose to her feet, then began to put one foot in front of the other. Another step, and another. Renlin was still crying, and she felt him turning his little head back and forth. He was hungry and wanted to nurse, but she could not feed him now, because there was no time...

A few more steps... had they been three? Or four?

A burning pain was in her arm, and its muscles no longer obeyed her. With the hand of the left arm, which was supporting Renlin, she grabbed the hand of the injured arm.

After a few more steps, she had to close her eyes as the dizziness hit her again. There was a loud roar in her ears, and she stopped, swaying, clinging to Renlin's magic, which was wrapped around her body like a soft, smooth robe. When her mind became clear again, she saw a rock wall glimmering in the starlight, and the corridor seemed to end there. With the warm shell of Renlin's magic around her body, she took another step, then another...

"Go left, my daughter," she heard Kaepora Gaebora's voice somewhere above her. She turned to the left, but dizziness gripped her again, and her left hand lost the fingers of the right. Her right arm fell, and the sudden pain made her mind clear again.

She would not make it like this. Because of the blood loss, she became dizzy again and again, and she feared that she would faint. If only she could stop the blood loss! She had to close the wound somehow, bandage it, even if she could not heal it...

 _Bandage..._

A bandage of magic! Maybe that could work!

But it was so hard to concentrate! Renlin was crying in a tired, hoarse voice, and her heart was aching because she could not feed him. Soon he would fall asleep from exhaustion again... She leaned her shoulder against the rock wall and closed her eyes. Slowly, a picture arose in front of her inner eye: a band of blue magic that closed the wound. Renlin's magic immediately obeyed her, and Ranalla felt a firm energy field around her body. She opened her eyes and looked at Renlin. His eyes were barely open, and he searched for her breast with his tiny lips. As he lay in her arm, she could not see the barrier to her abdomen which she had built, but the pain in her belly had given way to a dull throb.

"Come, my daughter, just a few more steps."

As she lifted her gaze, she saw the posts of a suspension bridge before her. She tried to walk, and managed to reach the posts. Her legs were trembling, and the pain in the wound on her arm pulsed in piercing, rippling waves, but she did not dare build another barrier. Her spirit longed for peace, and would take the first opportunity to retreat into the depths of her subconscious mind...

Another step. She jumped as the sound of her footsteps suddenly changed, and she felt the world swaying around her. Was she getting dizzy again? No, she had stepped on the swinging bridge, and she struggled to keep her balance. She had to use her injured arm as an aid, and the pain exploded in her body as she reached out for the railing. Her fingers closed around the rough handrail, and tears came into her eyes as she pulled herself forward with her bleeding arm.

Finally, at the other end of the bridge she saw the dark opening of a huge, hollow tree trunk. Tiny light dots danced inside it and lured her further. Her hand broke from the railing of the bridge because she wanted to go there, she had to reach these lights. Maybe there was help there...

She staggered through the hollow path, but as she reached the other side, the barrier around her belly dissolved, for Renlin had fallen asleep again. The pain in her body broke over her, and she frantically opened her eyes, so as not to lose consciousness. It was dark, but the light spots flashed over small shadows in front of her, illuminating the faces of children. Ranalla's knees gave way, but then she felt many small arms supporting her.

The arms were amazingly strong, and delicate bodies pushed her forward. They supported her weight, and Ranalla could put one foot in front of the other again. In the light of the glowing dots, she recognized a girl with green hair beside her, and on the other side she saw two identical faces flashing up. In front of her, a freckled boy went backwards and stopped some more children from approaching Ranalla.

"Let us go to her, Mido," she heard a high, childish voice speaking Hylian, like Kaepora Gaebora. "We want to help her!"

"Saria and the twins are already helping her," the boy whispered. "If you drag at her too, you will only hinder her."

"But look at the wound on her stomach," said another voice. "How shall she get through the stream?"

"If we support her, she will make it," Ranalla again heard the voice of the freckled boy, whom the others had called Mido. "Look, it's just a few more steps, and when she's on the meadow, the Great Deku Tree can help her."

But Ranalla knew that the tree could not heal her wounds. Only Ganondorf could heal them, because it was he who had put the spell on the giant blade, which was now wielded by the Daemon.

The dancing light dots blurred before her eyes, and the roar was back in her ears, but the children pushed her further. Were those houses she saw there? Or were they trees? Were they perhaps both? Houses in trees?

"There's the brook," said a soft voice beside her. From which side did it come? But then cool water embraced her, and the pain in her abdomen faded for a moment. It was so good, she wanted to stay here! Renlin twitched softly in her trembling arm as the water touched him, but he slept on, and his magic remained closed to Ranalla. The tiny lights were reflected by the water that reached to her waist, and now she saw her blood spreading in dark streaks in the water.

She felt the hands of the girls push her on. Then they pushed her up out of the water, and the pain overwhelmed her. Her weight dragged her down, like greedy claws boring into her body. Renlin's weight, too, pulled on her healthy arm, and she noticed how he began to slip away. A small hand came to her injured arm and brought it back to Renlin. She gratefully grabbed the fingers of her other hand and formed a cradle for the Treasure with her arms.

"Come, there is the passage," said one of the girls, who were supporting her body again. She no longer knew how many arms held her. Through her wet, cold combat suit she felt her warm blood flowing from her belly down her legs. She was cold, and her eyes were so heavy! Maybe she could just close them. Would the small arms support her body and bring her to the Deku Tree? Why did she have to go there at all? Couldn't she just stay here and rest? Close her eyes just a little...

"Hold her, she faints!"

The voice was bright and loud, and full of fear. Renlin's radiant magic flashed through Ranalla's consciousness like lightning, and she was immediately wide-awake. Renlin stirred and whimpered softly, and Ranalla grabbed the bright string and held tight. The magic sent a warm impulse through her chilled body, and she could suddenly walk by herself again. Quickly, she took a few steps forward and was amazed that it was so easy. She had to use that moment! Quick, one step, another step, then turn around the corner...

The girls ran beside her, and they came through a passageway with thick vines growing on its rocky walls. But a few steps before the next bend, Renlin's magic faded, and with a deep breath, he sank into deep sleep again.

Ranalla fell to her knees, her arms trembling around Renlin's small body. She swayed and fell forward and had to support herself with the injured arm. The grass under her hand was warm and sticky, but her arm gave way and her vision faded again.

"You must get up, please," the girls begged beside her, and she felt their hands tugging at her shoulders.

She shook her head. Her magic was gone and she had no strength left. She was badly hurt, and the blood flowed from her body to the soft grass beneath her knees, and with every drop, she lost another moment of the short time remaining to her. She could not go any further.

She could not even get up...

 _But then..._

When she was on her knees, her center of gravity was low, and it was difficult to rise. But maybe she did not have to! She pressed Renlin to her chest and straightened up, then she took a step forward on her knees.

"Yes!" the girls shouted softly. "Come on, you have almost made it!"

She felt Renlin's small, warm body twitch again and heard him inhaling with a soft gasp, but he did not wake up. Ranalla became aware that he was naked, and wet, and full of blood, and that no one would warm him when she...

She took another step forward on her knees. And another one. And another one. And then the passage opened and she was out in the meadow of the Deku Tree.

A mighty magic filled this place, and a warm feeling of relief permeated her body.

 _"Come hither, daughter mine,"_ said a deep, ancient voice that lured her with a loving urge. She closed her eyes and heard the soft rustle of leaves in the wind. She wanted to follow that fatherly voice, for she wanted to be with him, with that friendly being who was calling her... His magic stroked her body and gently pushed her forward, her knees moving over the soft grass without her being able do anything about it. When she stopped and opened her eyes, in the light of the stars and the small, flying light dots that accompanied the girls beside her, she saw the trunk of a great tree. The trunk had a face with thick eyebrows and a large mustache under its heavy nose.

 _"I am the Deku Tree,"_ said the voice again. _"The sage Rauru hath asked me to protect thee. Who art thou? And who is the one who doth accompany thee?"_

At the edge of her consciousness, Ranalla realized that she heard the voice in her head. Her lips opened, and she tasted blood on her tongue. It was so hard to form the words, for her mind wanted to do nothing more. But she had to answer him, because she had little time left.

"I'm Ranalla... from the Sheikah..."

It was so long ago that she had spoken!

"... and the child in my arms... is the Treasure. His father... is the King... of the Gerudo..."

 _"What is his name?"_ the great tree asked.

She was so tired.

Her son was sleeping in her arms, but she knew he was hungry. She had to feed him, otherwise he would cry, when she...

Slowly, she sank down, resting her body on her heels. She let herself fall sidewards, then lay down with Renlin in her arm on the soft grass. With the hand of her injured arm, she opened the front closure of her combat suit. Renlin stirred in his sleep, and his tiny lips opened wide and closed around her breast. She was glad that he nursed, and she closed her eyes.

 _"What is his name?"_ repeated the voice of the tree in her mind.

"His name is... Ren... lin... K..."

Sleep...

3

When she awoke, she was in a place unknown to her. She rose and saw the woman below herself. A huge wound gaped in her stomach, and she held the little creature in her arm. It was asleep, and the woman's eyes were also closed. Around the two of them stood other beings, who were also small, but larger than the one in the arms of the woman.

The whole place was filled with a bright field of light and warmth, and she knew that she should feel comfortable. But a distant memory of a beautiful man who suffered pain dwelt in her consciousness. He had promised the woman that he would find her, but Ranalla knew he could not if the woman was no longer there.

 _"Saria, daughter mine, takest thou the child,"_ she heard someone say. It was the deep voice the light and the warmth came from.

She saw one of the little figures bend to the ground and lift the being – the _child_ , as the voice had called it – from the arms of the woman.

"Is she dead?" asked the being named Saria.

 _"No, Saria, but the lady will be anon. The lady is badly injured and I cannot heal her wounds. Only the one who hath conjured the spell that infects her wounds can heal them."_

Ranalla looked into the cute face of the girl Saria who was holding the little creature in her arms. She held him tenderly and stroked his little face, and a beautiful feeling flowed through Ranalla's mind. But the girl's face was sad, and tears glistened in her eyes. On her shoulder sat a tiny, luminous being with transparent, glittering wings, who also had tears in its eyes. The creature looked up, and Ranalla followed its gaze. She found the place that radiated the bright light and the warmth. It was a big face, the face of a tree.

"You must not let her die, Great Deku Tree!" said the tiny winged creature, and tears flowed over her bright face.

"How is her child to grow up without her?" Saria asked.

Ranalla was curious about the answer of the tree and flew to its face.

"We _must aid in the rearing of the boy, children mine,"_ said the tree. _"The lady's issue is the Treasure, the Hero who hath been chosen by the Gods. This infant hath a destiny, and he hath been born to fulfill it."_

Somehow, this was not the answer that Ranalla had expected, and she was not content with it. She had to tell him.

And for the first time, the presence that contained her mind concentrated its thoughts, and spoke:

"Great Deku Tree."

That was how the little winged being had called him.

The surrounding light flickered, and she saw Saria and the others suddenly look at her.

 _"Who art thou, lovely fairy?"_ the tree asked. _"I feel thine pure spirit, but it cometh not from mine forest."_

"I am Ranalla," Ranalla replied.

 _"Ranalla..."_ the Deku Tree said slowly. _"Thou art the spirit of the daughter of the Sheikah. Thou hast left thine body, and the magic of this forest hath given thee a shape."_

Ranalla did not understand what he meant, but that was not important.

"I see the woman lying there who is hurt," said Ranalla. "I want to ask you to save her. Can you do it?"

 _"I cannot heal her,"_ said the Deku Tree.

"Can you do something else?"

 _"I could... transform her."_

Ranalla watched as Saria and the others whispered with joy.

"How can you transform her?" she continued.

 _"I shall turn her into a tree. In this way, she will live on. She will be the house for her son."_

"How long will she live in this shape?" Ranalla asked.

 _"In this shape, she will not age, little fairy, for she will be a part of this forest."_

"Is there a way to turn her back into her original form?"

 _"Forsooth, there be. But she would die, were that to happen, for too severe are her injuries."_

Ranalla flew to the woman and looked at her. Her face looked almost peaceful, and Ranalla saw a delicate light that illuminated the woman as she approached her. The Deku Tree had called her a fairy...

Ranalla wanted the woman to stay alive. She knew that the beautiful man would search for her, and she, Ranalla, wanted to help him find her.

4

When it was done, the girl Saria climbed with the little creature that was the woman's child into the house that had once been the woman's body. She lay down on the bed in the house with the child, and caressed him. The other creatures also went into their houses and lay down in their beds, and Ranalla remained alone. She flew back to the clearing of the Deku Tree and wondered what to do.

"Great Deku Tree," she said. "What will happen with me?"

She heard a peculiar sound, and the face of the tree opened its eyes under its thick eyebrows. It was a good-natured face, and she had confidence in it.

 _"Alack..."_ grumbled the Great Deku Tree. _"'Tis too early yet, but the day thine son Link wilt be enough in years, thence shalt thou his companion be."_

"When will that be?" she asked.

 _"Go to, little fairy; not so few years must thou wait, but The Treasure will still a young boy be."_

"But... what shall I do until then?"

 _"Until then thou shalt be_ Na-rin Vistla, _the fairy lacking a partner. But I shall call you Navi. That be easier to remember."_

Ranalla smiled. _Navi..._ that sounded nice and simple. Her name was Ranalla, but if it pleased the Great Deku Tree, he could of course call her so. He seemed to prefer short names, anyway, for he had called the woman's child _Link,_ although that was only a part of his real name.

"Can I leave the forest, Great Deku Tree?"

 _"By all means, Navi. But be warned by me: Whoever doth leave the forest of the Kokiri loseth the memory of what he hath left behind him. However, being that thou art not from this forest, I cannot truly say what shall happen."_

"Will I find the forest again if I want to come back?"

 _"I shall call thee when thou art needed, Navi. From thence shalt thou again the forest find."_

Ranalla thought. She had to risk it. She wanted to try to find the way to the beautiful man and tell him where the woman was. It was probably far to get there, but she had so much time...

She flew through the green corridor back to the village with the tree houses. As she flew over the water of the creek, she looked down and saw there a luminous figure with transparent, glittering wings, like the being that she had seen sitting on Saria's shoulder. When Ranalla moved, the figure made the same movements, and she came to the conclusion that it was her own body that she saw there. She smiled, for she liked this shape very much.

She found the way through the large, hollow tree trunk and over the suspension bridge, then she turned around the corner and came to the path that led outside between the other large tree trunks. A bright field of the same kind as that of the Great Deku Tree shone between the tree trunks, and when she looked up, she saw that the field was a huge dome extending over the entire forest.

When she came through to the other side, the first rays of the sun fell on the scattered rocks lying on the plain. At some distance, she saw a beautiful horse, and on its back sat a large, brown owl. She knew that owl, and she flew to it and wanted to speak to it, but she could not remember its name.

As she approached, she noticed that the owl was fumbling with its crooked beak on the straps of the saddle. When Ranalla reached it, something fell to the ground. It was the woman's bow, and she heard the owl growling, frustrated. Immediately, it began to work on another strap, but then the quiver of arrows fell on the ground. The owl opened the buckles of the saddlebags with its beak and took out the little sword and the ocarina in its leather case that the woman had stowed there. With powerful beats of its wings, the owl rose from the back of the horse into the air and flew towards the entrance of the forest. Ranalla saw it fly through the bright wall of the dome, and shortly afterwards it came back without the sword and the ocarina. It flew to the ground next to the horse, grabbed the bow and the quiver with its claws and brought them into the forest. When it came back, the owl settled on the horse's back and took the reins with its beak. It made a snapping sound, and the horse began to move. The owl shifted its weight on the horse's back, and it went to the left. Ranalla followed it, amazed that the horse obeyed the owl and quietly found its way through the boulders on the plain.

Near a boulder, Ranalla saw something shining in the rays of the morning sun. The owl also seemed to have noticed it, for it flew there, and Ranalla followed it. In the grass lay a sword with its blade broken in two parts. The owl looked at the sword for a while, then flew back to the horse, which had moved on in the meantime, and Ranalla followed the owl again.

The horse was slow, and it stopped repeatedly to eat the grass of the plain. Just as the sun sank, they reached a farm on the top of a hill. The owl began to fiddle with its large claws on the closure of the last saddle bag, and pulled out a book. It dropped the book on the grass and made the snapping sound, and the horse, who had been eating again, went on. In front of the gate of the farm, it stopped. The owl rose into the air and flew over the gate into the yard. Ranalla followed it and saw the owl knocking on the window of the house with its beak. After a short time, a fat man with a huge, dark mustache came out. The owl flew up and then fell to the ground. The man followed it, and the owl lured him further. When the owl flew over the gate, the man opened it, and Ranalla heard him whistling as he saw the horse.

"Well, you're a real beautiful girl," said the man kindly to the horse. He glanced at the owl who had risen into the air and was flying slowly in circles above him in the twilight.

"You even have a saddle," said the man again. "It seems to be Gerudo. Who might have lost you? Well, come on in, we will think up something tomorrow."

He took the reins of the horse and led it through the open gate. When he had closed the gate, the owl came back and picked up the book with its claws. Ranalla had watched everything and followed the owl on its way back. They flew all night, and just before the sun rose, they reached the boulder where the broken sword lay. The owl dropped the book to the ground behind the rock, sat down on the rock, and closed its eyes. Ranalla settled on the head of the owl and sank between its warm feathers, and her eyes also closed.

5

"Ho!"

Ranalla opened her eyes when she heard the sound. She was still sitting on the head of the owl, but there was a carriage with two horses in front of the rock where the owl was sitting. A burly man with blue trousers and an equally blue waistcoat descended from the coachman's seat and picked up the two parts of the sword. Four more men were sitting in the carriage, and one of them asked sleepily:

"What happened, Master Mutoh?"

"Found something," replied the man, who had picked up the sword.

"Hey, what kind of bird is that?" another one shouted from the carriage.

"Seems to be an owl," Mutoh said. "Never saw such a big one!"

"Is that a sword?" asked a third man.

"Yes, but it's broken," Mutoh said. "It was once a good sword. Maybe I can sell the parts to the Gorons when we're back."

He climbed back onto the coachman's seat, and the carriage left.

The owl had watched everything quietly, and when the carriage had left, it flew down to the ground behind the rock and picked up the book. Then it rose into the air and flew south.

The woman had started for the desert from a different place, and from where she was now, Ranalla did not know the way. She decided to stay with the owl, for she felt that perhaps it could show her the way to the beautiful man. The beautiful man was Gerudo, like the horse. Perhaps the horse would have known the way...

They flew almost all day. In the late afternoon, they reached a blue lake, its water glittering in the evening sun. On the edge of the lake was a strange house with two towers, and the owl flew there and tapped at the door with its beak. Then it flew up and sat on the roof of the house. An old man in a dark robe stepped out of the door and looked around in amazement. The owl released the book, and it slid down over the roof and fell at the old man's feet. He picked it up and looked inside. Ranalla flew to him and tried to take a look at the book. The man had just opened the first page, where Ranalla could read the title of the book: _The language of the Sheikah_ was written there in Hylian, and somebody had written below in her mother tongue: _Terini ill Sheikah._

"Well, look at this," she heard the man say. "This is a special catch!" He looked up at the owl and waved his hand. "Thank you, my friend. Wait, I have something for you."

He went inside and came out with a fish. He laid it outside the door on the grass and the owl flew down and picked up the fish with its claws. It flew onto the platform above the first tower of the house and began to eat the fish. Ranalla sat on the railing of the platform and watched as it ate. Some hungry crows came and tried to steal the fish, but the owl shooed them away with powerful flaps of its wings and angry hissing sounds.

When it had finished eating, the owl turned to Ranalla and looked at her with its big blue eyes from under its long, brow-like feathers.

"You are Ranalla, aren't you?" it said.

Ranalla was stunned with surprise. So far she had assumed that the owl could not perceive her.

"I hope you can understand me in this form, my daughter. The King has returned to the desert with the renegade twins. The Daemon is aware that he can no longer reach the child, and as long as the King lives, he will use his body to smooth his structure. That means that he will probably start a war, and the King's double magic will give him great power. When the Daemon entered the world, a different timeline was opened, bearing nothing but death and destruction. We can only wait for the Treasure to grow up and face him. He has to defeat the Daemon so we can close this timeline.

"But in the original timeline, the King will wait for you. He will search the whole world for you, but he cannot find you, of course. You must then go to him and tell him how to free you, or his anger and sadness will smooth the structure and pave the way into the world for the Daemon again. This will open up other deviations, and you alone can prevent the disaster from repeating.

"I have now finished everything that was left, and I will return to the Chamber of the Sages. To find the desert, leave this place to the north and then go north-west.

"When the Treasure is ready to leave the forest, I will watch over him and show him the way. Then, perhaps, we will meet again, when _Na-rin Vistla,_ the fairy without a partner, and Link, the boy without a fairy, will face their destiny together.

"Farewell, my daughter. Your mission is fulfilled."


	32. Chapter 32

**Chapter 32**

1

She had been on the road for two days. From the house by the lake, she had flown northward, then to the north-west, as the owl had told her, until she had reached the entrance to the valley with the ravine.

The luminous wall, behind the bridge crossing the ravine, was not very high. In the beginning, when she had entered the valley, the woman had clashed against it, but if she had jumped just a little higher, she would have cleared the wall. But the woman had not known that because she had not seen the wall. Ranalla saw the wall. She could simply fly over it and follow the path that the beautiful man had gone with the woman.

When she came into the courtyard of the Fortress, it was already dark. There were torches everywhere, and the beautiful women with the red hair had gathered outside in the courtyard. They were standing in a circle around a fire, and two of them were kneeling before the fire in the sand. Their hands and feet were tied, and they looked frightened at the dark figure before them.

Ranalla flew closer to the two and looked into their faces. She recognized the features of the tall woman with the spear who had caught the wife of the beautiful man. The other face belonged to the woman who had played the ocarina.

Ranalla turned around and saw the beautiful man before her.

He was no longer beautiful.

His face had taken on a dark, mud-green color. His long hair, which his wife had loved to braid, was gone, and short, red bristles were sticking out from his head. His once-beautiful golden eyes glowed like coals in his face, and a malicious, hateful expression lay in his features. He wore a black suit with metal and leather armor, which Ranalla had never seen before.

"How could you dare to let her go?" he shouted, pointing with his finger at the two women who were kneeling before him. Then he turned to the other women, who shrank back from him in horror. "Anyone who dares to resist me," he rumbled, gesturing wildly with his long arms, "will either be thrown into the dungeon or killed. I'll kill them myself with my magic!"

While the man cried and ranted angrily, the two birds with the broomsticks sank to his sides from the sky. They sent dazzling red and white magical whirls at the two kneeling women. The women shrieked as the whirls hit them, and some other women drew their swords. The man seemed to grow even more angry.

"I'll punish them myself!" he shouted at the two birds. "Vanish from here, I will no longer endure your sight!"

The two birds obeyed and disappeared in the dark sky. The man turned again to the beautiful women standing in the circle.

"Bring them into the dungeon," he said in an angry voice, and a few of them came and took the fetters off the ankles of the two kneeling women. Then they took their arms and pulled them away.

Ranalla followed them. The two prisoners were brought into the dungeon through that special entrance of the Fortress. The guards were carrying torches, and Ranalla tried to look like one of the moths fluttering around the torches. The prisoners were locked in cells, then the guards went out and left the two women alone in the dark. Ranalla followed the torches out, and the women pulled a grid from the box beside the entrance and anchored it on the other side, barring the entrance.

When she returned with the guards to the courtyard, the man turned around and went to the gate where his large horse was waiting. He swung into the saddle and shouted something to the watchtower. Ranalla flew after him and settled in his short, bristly hair. He did not seem to notice anything. Four more women came to the gate, mounted their horses, and followed the man. They let their horses follow a luminous line, and Ranalla recognized it as the bright path she had seen when she had followed the dark figure from the desert to the Fortress.

From a distance, Ranalla could already see the burning wall with white and red streaks glowing in the darkness, but she passed through unharmed on the man's head. He rode to the entrance of the Temple and dismounted his horse. One of the four women took the reins of his horse and led it away, and Ranalla stayed on the man's head as he stepped inside the Temple.

He walked with heavy steps through the corridors lit by torches. Ranalla remembered the way he went, for it led to the rooms of the birds with the broomsticks. When he reached them, he stepped through the ugly wall outside the door. The birds were in the room where Ranalla had first seen them with the book. They were both standing in front of the book, reading in it. The man entered the room, went to the table and took the book. The two birds screamed in horror.

"What are you doing, Master? When are you going to give us back our shape?" the bird with the white gem wailed.

"You promised, Master!" the creature with the red gem shouted, trying to cling to the man's leg. But he shook the bird off with an annoyed movement.

"Be quiet!" he cried at the two birds with a droning voice, and Ranalla had the impression that the walls of the room were trembling. "Do not dare to challenge me!"

Both birds flinched and jerked back.

"You have failed, you useless, slimy creatures!" he thundered. "Get out of my sight, I must think! If you dare to come near me, I will crush you like vermin."

Ranalla clung to his bristly hair as the man left the room with quick, furious steps and took the book with him. He stomped with his heavy boots through the corridors of the Temple to the room where he had always been eating with the woman. There he sent a whirl to the candlestick on the desk and lit the candles, then he slammed the book on the table and sat on the chair in front of it. He opened the book, and from her place on his head, Ranalla could read the lines on the title page:

 _The Hidden Chronicles_

 _First volume: The Book of Return_

 _Hylian translation for use by the royal family of Hyrule_

She cringed in fright and pulled involuntarily at the red hair she held, and the man jerked with his hand over his head and swept Ranalla down. From the force of his stroke, she fell down on the book. She tried to get up, but the man closed the book, and Ranalla was thrown to the side by the air thrust. She screamed in pain as her delicate body crashed against the inkwell on the table, and she remained lying there in front of it, panting. Frightened, she looked up at the man's face, but he stared with an empty gaze and seemed not to notice Ranalla.

Carefully, she tried to move her wings and managed to rise into the air. She landed again on the man's head, and with an anxious heart, she looked down at the book that lay before him.

Ranalla knew that book. She knew that the wife of the beautiful man had read in that book, when she had been living with her people. The woman had used another edition, one that was written in her mother tongue. Ranalla did not know this one, and the birds had probably stolen it from the ancestors of the royal family many, many years ago.

In the hands of beings with evil intentions, the book could become a mighty, disastrous weapon, for the knowledge in it could give anyone unlimited power.

And now the man had gotten the book.

The man who was no longer beautiful, and no longer kind, who had almost killed his own wife, and who was possessed by a dreadful, alien being, full of darkness.

2

 _He had not obtained his body._

 _His first servants had brought him a male Bearer of the Heritage of the Goddess from another point in Time, but he had realized soon that he could not use that body because its consciousness had already been too far developed. He needed a body without a consciousness, or with a weakly developed consciousness, and he could not create such a body as he could not shape matter with the aid of the Attraction. But he had succeeded in making the Bearer of the Heritage of the Goddess his tool, so that he could at least smooth its strong magic and use it against the Goddess. Later, his tool had been destroyed in the battle against the Treasure, but he had been able to save the Bearer's magic._

 _Then the sisters had made contact with him through the book. In their impertinent naivety, they had babbled something about a flying dragon, believing that he could give them the Gift of Magic. He had offered them the smoothed magic that had remained of his tool, and they had agreed to create a male, magically gifted body for him, that was able to produce more male, magically gifted beings in the World. In order to bind them to their oath, he had first taken away their shape with the aid of that same magic, and had promised to give it back when they had fulfilled their mission._

 _For their task, they had needed a female Bearer of the Heritage of the Goddess, and he had shown them three female Bearers who were in Time. The first two had been failures, and the third had been killed by his own boisterous tool, before the sisters could seize her._

 _But then the third Bearer had reappeared in Time. The woman had entered the sisters' reach and had even conceived and born the body. He had waited impatiently for the body to be born, and finally the sisters had summoned him again to take over his body and enter the World. He had set off, and the sisters had collected his Essence in the Artifact and transferred it to a body._

 _But when his Essence had spread in that body, he had been overwhelmed with horror! Just as with the first body, there was already a consciousness inside it, for it was not the body that they had prepared for him._

 _They had failed. The Bearer of the Heritage of the Goddess had fled and had taken the body with her._

 _The consciousness in the body he had taken over was very strong and gave him a fierce struggle, until he had finally subjected it so far that he could take up the chase for the woman. From the spirit of his host, he had only taken the most important information for the journey, for he had not intended to remain in this body. As soon as he was to have captured the woman and the child that was his right body, he was to have taken it over and killed both producers._

 _But it had not happened._

 _The servants of the terrible Goddess had rushed to the aid of the woman, and she had escaped. She had entered an area of the World to which he had no access, and even the strong magic of his host had not been able to penetrate the mighty spell surrounding the place._

 _Why had the Goddess protected this body?_

 _Why had she first removed the Bearer of her Heritage from Time, and then put her back into Time? Had she given the woman a mission? Could it be that the Goddess wanted the body for herself?_

 _Why?_

 _Could it be that this body, this newborn being, was also a Bearer of her Heritage?_

 _Was it perhaps even the Treasure itself?_

 _At the idea of this possibility, anger and disappointment seized him. He had almost reached the body of the Treasure and saved his universe in a single moment! The Treasure was able to move through the folds and knots of the disturbances created by the accursed Attraction in his universe, and he could have used the body of the Treasure to eradicate the terrible Goddess once and for all..._

 _He felt the consciousness of his host press to the surface, for it was watching the chain of his conclusions. During the chase for the woman, the consciousness had even succeeded a few times in suppressing him for a short time and helping the woman, and the Attraction that lay in the nature of the man had warped and twisted his Essence painfully. He could not allow that to happen again, but he was curious. Cautiously, he questioned the consciousness and learned that it was marveling at the insight to which his Essence had come. The man had never known why the woman had come to him from the depths of Time._

3

 _The Attraction in the consciousness of his host was so strong that it even affected his Essence while the consciousness was suppressed. Even when he was just communicating with it, he felt his Essence want to follow the whirls and twists. Full of shame, he remembered the seduction of the terrible Goddess, who had simply cornered him in his own universe and had stolen a part of his Essence for the creation of the Treasure, without him being able to resist._

 _But since then he had learned. He was no longer so naive and foolish, and he had realized that he could sometimes even use the Attraction for his own purposes. It was even easier to deal with it if he did not resist, but dived into its aura and let it influence his Essence. This way, he was able to meet and study its composing forces, and the laws these forces obeyed._

 _In order to create a magically gifted body for him, the twins had stolen a part of the Heritage of the Goddess with a trick, just as the Goddess had done with him. Oh, if only he had known earlier that, haphazardly, it had been exactly that part that contained the Treasure! It should have occurred to him when the twins had told him of the Bearer who had reappeared in Time! But he had been so eager to finally get his body that he did not attribute any importance to this strange coincidence._

 _Anger welled up in his Essence, but he had to suppress it if he wanted to make a decision. The Treasure was inaccessible to him, that was certain. The only thing that remained to him was the information in the Book of Return and in the memory of his host._

 _Shortly after the takeover of the body, he had recognized the basic trait of the man's being in his consciousness. Although the tradition of his people made him a ruler, in his mind there was just a single aspiration: he longed for the woman and wanted to get her back at all costs._

 _What could he do?_

 _How could he take advantage of this situation?_

 _One of the clearest memories in the man's mind was a special ritual that he had carried out with the woman. Although the Attraction had induced an inseparable and definitive bond with the woman already at the man's first encounter with her, the Treasure and the Inheritance of the Goddess in the woman's body had recognized their counterpart in the man's body and strove for even closer union. In a mighty act of physical fusion, the two parts of the Heritage of the Goddess had united into one whole so that the man and the woman became a single being, a single organism, whose two parts, like the two sides of a medal, were bound together forever. The_ Bonding _allowed them to merge their spirits for a short time, so that one could receive the other's memories._

 _In his opinion, the woman had been commissioned by the Goddess herself, or by one of her servants, to receive the Treasure from his host, in order to bring it back to the Goddess._

 _How much did she know? Was she perhaps even herself a servant of the Goddess? And were there perhaps in the mind of the man any memories he had received from the woman?_

 _With a shudder of hope, he began to scour the man's consciousness. He found it difficult to resist the Attraction that reached out for him with greedy fingers, and he needed to search for a long time, as the man had not received many memories from the woman. But finally, he found one that caught his attention. It was the memory of the moment when his servants had taken the first body for him out of Time. At that time, the woman had been carrying out her profession, which consisted in the training of the young Bearers of the Heritage of the Goddess. She had just been telling them a part of the Myth of Creation. Jubilantly, he realized that his suspicions had been correct: the woman was not only a servant of the Goddess, but one of her highest priests!_

 _The Myth described how the Goddess sent the three elements of her Essence into the World and began her work of destruction. Everywhere, she spread the seed of her Attraction, and her terrible traces, the folds, knots, swirls, and entanglements in the Substance, still covered the World, running like a horrible disease through his universe._

 _In her arrogance, the terrible Goddess had even created particularly dense knots of her power in different parts of the World, which she had simply left behind to her creatures..._

 _And there, almost at the end of the memory, he finally found a hint – and knew at once that it would bring him victory. At last, the Attraction that had united the bodies and spirits of these two beings, would become the doom of the Goddess! For in the memory of the man he found the information about the place where the last Artifact of the Goddess was to be found, in which her Essence was concentrated._

 _The Triforce._

 _And not only the place where it was kept, but also an exact description of the path to that place was in the man's memory._

 _His body and the Treasure were lost, but if he could achieve the Triforce, he would no longer need a body, nor the Treasure, nor any servants. The Triforce would allow him to recreate his entire universe, without the terrible Goddess, and without her abominable descendant, who was destroying all his efforts at smoothing his universe._

 _For the Triforce possessed the power to shape Reality, and it would fulfill every wish for the one that touched it._

 _But how could he reach it?_

 _He needed an army, and he needed the help of his host's highly cultivated consciousness, for whose suppression he had to devote a large part of his Essence..._

 _But... maybe he did not need to suppress the whole consciousness! Perhaps it was enough to suppress only those parts of the consciousness that could hinder him in his progress. With the rest, he could make a pact and work together with it._

 _The man wanted to have the woman back. If he learned that the Triforce could fulfill his wish, nothing would stop him from reaching that goal. All that was necessary now was to weaken the Attraction contaminating his mind, so that it could no longer dampen his ambition._

 _But then –_ then, _he would do anything to conquer the Triforce._

 _Anything._

4

 _Ten years had passed, and now he was ready._

 _The being who lived inside him had helped him to get the Book of Return from the twins, the being that had lent them their knowledge and their power. Now they no longer determined what he was doing, but had become his servants. All were his servants now, even his former deputy. With an iron fist he now ruled the tribe of the Gerudo Sisters, and had converted them into an army of merciless warriors._

 _He had fetched the old notebooks of the twins from the hidden room in the dungeon of the Fortress, and with the aid of those records, he had succeeded in summoning many other beings from the depths of Time and other worlds, and bound them to himself. He had sent them out in this World to seek the woman who had escaped._

 _Since he had lost her trace in that strange, wild forest, he had searched for her everywhere. With the help of his new servants, he had finally managed to break through the magical barrier that surrounded the forest like a dome. But he had only found a huge magically gifted tree, who would not tell him anything, but used all his magic to protect his miserable forever-young children. Thereupon he had sent one of his new servants from the other worlds to the tree, and had ordered her to build her nest in his trunk and roots. As the tree was now no longer protected, she would slowly destroy it from within, and the tree would never affront him again._

 _With the woman, also her son had disappeared, the one whose body the presence inside him had wanted. He knew that it was his son too, and a strange unrest befell him when he thought about it. But the being inside him could suppress these thoughts and gave him ever new tasks he had to take care of. Actually, he was content with not having to think about the woman, and he was grateful that the presence had locked his memories of her into a dark dungeon in his mind._

 _When all efforts to find the woman failed and he was already desperately thinking about traveling back in time, the presence had approached him with an outrageous suggestion. It had shown him a way to get the woman back, but he had to work together with it to achieve that goal. The information concerning this was contained in the last memory he had received from the woman, and was in accord with what he had read in the book from the witches._

 _He had to find three stones to open the way to the key. He had gone to the representatives of the three non-human tribes and had requested the artifacts, but none of them had obeyed. Therefore he had sent two of his servants to the Gorons and the Zoras with the order to force their cooperation. The third stone was supposed to be at the tree that his servant had already infiltrated._

 _He knew his servants would serve him well, for he had a hold on them. As long as they were bound to him, they could not return to their worlds, and he would only let them go when they had executed his orders. When he would have the three stones, he would fetch the artifact kept by the royal family. It would give him great power, and together with the stones, it would open the way to the key._

 _The book spoke of a special figure, a man chosen by the gods, whom alone the key supposedly obeyed. But was not he himself chosen by the gods? He was a male Gerudo with the Gift of Magic, and in his body lived a divine being whom he served. So why should the key refuse him? And when he would have the key, there would be nothing more in the way of him getting to the last sanctuary._

 _The Triforce._

 _He would touch it, and the Triforce would fulfill his wish... bring her back..._

 _He had waited ten years, researched, and prepared himself. He had built up an army, and had weakened and dispersed the peoples who inhabited the country. His servants had already infested all strategically important places and all the sanctuaries, and his soldiers were waiting for his order to attack. At last, he was ready to begin his campaign against the servants of the terrible Goddess that had stolen his family from him._

 _But before that, he had yet to complete a last order that the being who lived inside him had given him. In case the plan failed and it did not get its body, he should make sure that a new servant could be found._

 _Before him on the desk lay the book of the twins and the Dagger of Transfer. He opened the book to the first page where the title was written with Hylian characters._

The Hidden Chronicles

First volume: The Book of Return

Hylian translation for use by the royal family of Hyrule

 _He did not know where the twins had the book from, but that was not important. The only important thing was its power._

 _He had thought for a long time how he could fulfill his task, then he had remembered the song of the Ren-Bird. It was a story that his predecessor, the last King of the Gerudo, had carried to him over Time, with a poem. This would be the method he would use._

 _He took a pen, dipped it in ink, and wrote on the first page of the book under the title the words that would show the way to the servant:_

.

 _Oh faithful servant, be not afraid,_

 _Solve the riddle and seek the light._

 _Open for me the hidden door,_

 _And magical powers will be your reward._

.

 _In the dark dungeon, in the sandy walls,_

 _The lonely sunbeam through the shadows falls._

 _It will appear on the longest of days_

 _And reunite me with my servant of faith._

 _._

 _He had found a good hiding place for the dagger. In the same hidden room in the former dungeon of the Fortress, behind the wall with the crystals, within the time barrier, it would be protected from Time and its changes. The part of the strange being inside him which he had transferred into the dagger during the chase for the woman in the Hyrule Field, was still embedded in it. That part would be the Master of the next servant until the being could reunite with it in a new body._

 _Then, at last, he would be free._

5

 _"Navi... Navi, where art thou? Come hither..."_

From the terrible darkness of the World, the deep voice of the Deku Tree came to her. Fear and anxiety lay in it, and Ranalla set off at once.

For ten years, she had accompanied the man who had once been beautiful. She had watched him and sought a way to reach him, because she did not like what had happened with him. He was still the King of the beautiful women with the red hair, and under his rule they had become powerful, merciless warriors. They no longer sold their goods in the markets, but they robbed and stole what they needed to live and fight, and they were feared and hated throughout the country.

From a hidden room in the dungeon of the Fortress, the once beautiful man had brought a pile of books and had done terrible things with their aid. Foreign beings were inhabiting the Earth and the land of Hyrule, and they brought death and destruction into the world.

Since his wife had fled to the forest, the man had transformed the Temple, where he had lived with her, into a place of horror. The large, bright windows, through which the sun had shone into the living quarters and workshops, had been closed with thick walls. With the plans he had found in the books from the Fortress, the man had built dangerous puzzles and murderous traps that now paved the way to the rooms where he lived and pondered over his useless devices. In the remaining rooms of the Temple, terrifying, bloodthirsty animals and half-spirited creatures crept and flew, who were craving to finally return to their world.

None of these beings seemed to perceive Ranalla, and even the man could obviously not see her. One day, when he had locked his own daughter in the dungeon of the Fortress, Ranalla had gathered all her courage and had flown in front of his face. She had put all her strength into her light and had carried out the wildest flight maneuvers before his eyes, but he had simply stared through her and had continued planning his terrible mechanisms, which his new servants would build for him in the Temple afterwards.

One of the foreign beings who were wandering around the Temple had one day found the two chests with the magical gloves and the mirror shield, which the beautiful man's wife had hidden. When it opened the chests, a bright light had shone at Ranalla from both of them, but the creature had not seemed to notice, for it just closed the chests and left them there. It went to its master and asked what was to be done with the chests. The once beautiful man was annoyed at the disturbance and snarled at the creature that the chests belonged on the hands of the statue. Ranalla followed the foreign being back to the chests and saw how it put one on each of the hands of the great stone Goddess sitting in the niche of the huge rock that contained the Temple. Afterwards, the creature went back to the man and Ranalla thought it was hoping for a reward. But the man cursed it with a thunderous voice and threw a burning torch at it, and it fled through the dark corridors, screaming.

The garden on the roof of the Temple had been destroyed by the foreign beings, for the once beautiful man no longer ate and slept. With horror, Ranalla had watched as a giant, fire-spewing monster had flown across the forest, enflaming the trees, the grass, and the pavilion with the bed. Ranalla guessed that this way the man wanted to ban the last remaining memory of his wife. Since then, he had never been on the roof again.

With his powerful magic, the man had changed all the inscriptions of the Temple. From the memory of the woman, Ranalla knew that the inscriptions told stories and legends from the history of the people of the beautiful women with the red hair. But like in a foolish delusion, the man overwrote the inscriptions with the same meaningless sequence of signs over and over again, which Ranalla supposed to be the alphabet of his language. Full of sorrow, she realized that the precious records were lost forever.

He had also destroyed the room with the large water basin and the torches in the niches. As the water was no longer needed for the irrigation of the garden, it had faded. From a group of high rocks in the desert, his servants had brought huge round boulders that were now rolling incessantly on the vaulted floor, crushing everything they touched.

But the shameful work of the once beautiful man was not limited to the Temple in the desert. The former dungeon of the Fortress had also been transformed into a scary labyrinth, where the beautiful women with the red hair were drilled to become cold-blooded warriors. Then he had sent his servants to all the sanctuaries of the country, and they dispelled the members of the peaceful peoples, threatened them, and harassed them. In those Temples, too, his minions had built his cruel traps, and afterwards he had laid the desecrated venerable places into the hands of the abominable subjects he had summoned.

Sometimes, the man still played on the instrument with the many flutes, that the woman had also played. But it did no longer sound gentle and calm as when they had played together. The man still played that song sometimes, but the music was loud and shrill, and scary, inharmonious chords accompanied the formerly hopeful melody. The man seemed to have completely lost his sense of beauty and tranquility, of joy and harmony. Sometimes, Ranalla even heard him burst into a ghastly laughter when he killed one of the foreign beings who had defied his commands.

All the barriers had disappeared, for the man had ordered the birds with the broomsticks to dissolve them so that his new servants could enter the Temple and the Fortress unhindered. This way, Ranalla could follow the call of the Great Deku Tree and leave the terrible place in the desert.

With the words of the tree, the memory of the path had returned to her, and she knew she would need to fly a whole day long. She would also have to fly all night, for the voice of the Deku Tree had sounded urgent.

When she reached the entrance to the forest on the morning of the next day, she saw the great owl sitting on a branch of one of the two large tree trunks. She flew to the owl and settled on its head.

"I've been waiting for you, my daughter," said the owl, and Ranalla was glad to hear its voice.

"You were in the desert with the King of the Gerudo, weren't you?" said the owl. "He has become a terrible, deadly enemy. We suspect that in his obsession he is even striving for the Triforce, because he recently tried to get hold of the three stones. When the Keepers refused to surrender to him, he sent his cruel accomplices to harass the peaceful tribes. But you have seen his new servants and studied them, you know their weaknesses and how they can be defeated. The Treasure is now ten years old and ready to leave his refuge to face the Daemon. The Deku Tree has chosen you to accompany the Treasure, and with your knowledge of the enemy you will stand by him on his journey as a faithful friend.

"Before that, however, I have another task for you, my daughter. For the Treasure to fulfill his destiny, he needs the help of the last Guardian of Time and the royal family. King Nohansen has already succumbed to the pressure of the Daemon and does not dare to resist him. But his daughter Zelda has the Gift of Magic as we had expected. In her soul rests the heritage of the Sage of Time, and she is able to perceive Time in a similar way as we Guardians. We must draw her on our side, for she is the leader of the Sages, and we need her help to defeat the Daemon.

"Go north, to the last of the Sheikah – to your sister Impa, who lives in the royal castle. You can talk to her in her dreams. Tell her that the Treasure will soon appear at the castle, and ask her to support him.

"In the same way, you can also talk to Princess Zelda. Show her what you saw in the desert and tell her about the boy from the woods who will come to her to ask for her help. He will bring the first stone and will need a letter of recommendation to get the other two stones from the Gorons and the Zoras.

"Once you have completed this quest, you will return to the Deku Tree and begin your journey with the Treasure. The world is in greatest danger, and we must protect the Sacred Artifact before the King of Thieves can reach it."


	33. Chapter 33

A/N: If you have not yet played "Ocarina of Time" and don't want to spoil your adventure, you may want to skip the first part of this chapter (the part denoted with 1) and continue with part 2.

Translations of the Sheikah and Gerudo phrases are at the end of the chapter text.

 **Chapter 33**

1

The journey was over.

At the end of a gloomy branch of Time, two people who had to say goodbye were standing facing each other. Ranalla hovered between them, waiting for the timeline of the Daemon to come to an end. In a long moment, she remembered the wondrous events that had brought her here.

After fulfilling her mission assigned by the owl, Ranalla had flown to the Great Deku Tree who asked her to wake up Link and take him to the meadow of the tree. A huge, spider-like creature from another world had entered the enchanted forest under the earth, attacked the roots of the tree, and built its nest in them. Now it was slowly eating at the soul of the tree, whose strength was gradually leaving it. The tree asked Link for help, but Link needed a sword and shield to face this powerful enemy. Ranalla had helped him find the little sword that the daughter of the beautiful man had made for his son. The children of the Deku Tree, who called themselves the _Kokiri,_ had kept it in a hidden area of their village in a chest, but Link had found it quickly. In the little shop of the Kokiri, he had bought a shield for forty rupees, which he had carefully gathered from under stones and bushes.

Thanks to the thorough training that the beautiful man had given to his wife, Ranalla had been able to teach Link how to use his little sword and his shield, and also how he could outwit enemies, bring them down, and defeat them. In her shape as a fairy, she could see many things that were hidden or invisible, and she had been able to see the magical clues that the man, who was now the enemy, had built into his own traps. Having spent ten years with him in the desert, watching him, she also knew the characteristics of the various hostile beings whom he had summoned from other worlds with the help of the books from the Fortress, and she had shown Link how to take advantage of the weaknesses of the foreign creatures.

Link had defeated the big spider inside the Deku Tree, but the tree had already been too weakened and had not survived. With its last strength, it had given Link his new assignment, and Ranalla left with Link for Hyrule Castle to meet Princess Zelda. The Kokiri girl Saria, who had raised Link on behalf of the Deku Tree, had given him the yellow ocarina of the beautiful woman from the Fortress, as a goodbye gift. Ranalla had taught Link to play it, and with the magical melodies that he had found on his journey, he had been able to influence the change of day and night, prove himself as the messenger of the Princess, and cheer up the sulky chief of the Gorons. Link had been eager to learn everything Ranalla could teach him, and Ranalla had been reminded of the beautiful man again and again, who had also been so eager to learn and know.

Later, after Link had obtained the three gems from the Keepers and received the Ocarina of Time from Zelda, he had been able to open the chamber of the Master Sword. But the sword had captured his body and mind for seven years in the Chamber of the Sages, where the woman whom the beautiful man loved had once also slept for a long time. In the meantime, the enemy had entered the Sacred Realm to try to conquer the Triforce. But the Sacred Artifact of the Goddess had refused him, breaking into its three elements as the Daemon touched it. Only the element of Power had joined the Daemon, but the other two had sought the beings who had been chosen by the Gods as their bearers.

After those long years in the Chamber of the Sages, Ranalla and Link had entered the world again, where a lone Sheikah warrior named Sheik had been waiting for Link, to assign him his next missions.

First, Sheik had sent him to the cemetery of the village Kakariko, where Link had received from the spirit of the late gravedigger an ancient device he could also use as a weapon: the hookshot, which opened the path into the Forest Temple. In the Forest Temple, deep in the forest of the Kokiri, Link and Ranalla had found the bow that had once belonged to the wife of the beautiful man. The Kokiri had apparently kept it there, and the bow had been a helpful weapon in the difficult fight against a spirit, one who was the enemy's puppet and had assumed his shape. Link, unlike the wife of the beautiful man, had aged and grown up during the seven years in the Chamber of the Sages, and he had taken the bow and carried it with him on his journeys through Hyrule.

In other Temples, Link had found other weapons: a powerful metal hammer; another, even longer hookshot; floating shoes; and heavy iron boots allowing him to dive deep into the water. The King of the Zoras had given him a magical garment to breathe under water, and Darunia, the chief of the Gorons, had given him a magical bracelet with which he could lift heavy objects. The chief's son, who was also called Link in Link's honor, had later given him a magical red tunic, allowing him to walk through the hot lava caves without burning. In the end, Link had been able to defeat the evil fire dragon Volvagia, whom Ranalla had recognized as the being that had burned the blooming garden on the roof of the Temple on behalf of the once beautiful man...

Since Link had had to travel long distances for his missions, he had bought a mare on the farm where the owl had brought the beautiful horse back when he was an infant. When Link had won a race against the new owner of the farm on the back of the young horse, Ranalla had recognized the mare as the daughter of the horse that the owl had brought there. Link had needed to flee from the paddock on the back of the mare, because the owner had not been letting him leave with her.

Link had awakened the Sages, one by one defeating the evil creatures who had bound their powers in the Temples of Hyrule, and for the last Sage, Ranalla had returned with him to the desert. The bridge had been destroyed, and on the other side, on the edge of the ravine, a group of craftsmen, who had wanted to join the beautiful women with the red hair, had pitched their tent. Link had jumped over the ravine with his mare Epona and learned from the master of the craftsmen that his four fellows had all been captured by the Sisters. Link had sneaked into the Fortress, and although the women had repeatedly caught him and locked him up, he had managed to free the fellows. The women had build new prison cells at different points in the Fortress, but Link had found them all, for Ranalla knew the Fortress well, since the beautiful man had often been there with his wife.

The master of the craftsmen had thanked Link and given him the broken sword that he had found beside the boulder on the Hyrule Field. Link had then brought it to Master Biggoron, the largest of the Gorons, and after a complicated trade sequence that had had Link chasing after things cross-country, through all of Hyrule, the Goron had forged it into one of his unbreakable two-handed swords, which had helped Link multiply his striking power.

The freed craftsmen had repaired the bridge, and in the end, the beautiful women of the desert had been so impressed by Link that they had made him an honorary member of their tribe. They had then taught him their language and helped him reach the Temple in the desert.

The luminous path in the misty desert had no longer been there, but Link had succeeded in crossing the quicksand field and the Haunted Wasteland with the help of the friendly but invisible spirit whom Ranalla had remembered. Link was able to see the spirit, and the invisible traps built by the enemy in the Temple, with the _Lens of Truth_ – another artifact of the Goddess that he had found deep in the catacombs of Kakariko.

At that time, the once beautiful man had no longer been living in the desert Temple. In the seven years that Link had slept in the Chamber of the Sages, the enemy had converted the abandoned royal castle in the capital of Hyrule to be his palace, and had surrounded it with a terrible abyss filled with lava, so that no one could reach him. His servants had destroyed the city, and only a few undead, hungry figures had still been crouching in the burnt streets, lurking, waiting for their ignorant victims.

But the ugly birds with the broomsticks had still dwelt in the Temple, and Link and Ranalla had also met the woman named Nabooru, who had broken with the enemy and become the leader of the beautiful women from the Fortress. On her request, Link had returned to when he was a child and sought the magically enhanced gloves, and Ranalla had been able to lead him to the chests that the foreign being had found earlier and had placed on the hands of the outer statue. However, when Link had gone to hand Nabooru the gloves, the birds had come and seized Nabooru to make her their slave. With the help of the gloves, Link had later been able to enter the Temple as an adult and take along the mirror shield that the beautiful man had made.

The birds with the broomsticks had by then spread to the secret area of the Temple, the one that the woman had discovered on one of her wanderings. Ranalla had led Link into the great hall with the inner statue, but the enemy had closed the passage and given the statue a face. Ranalla had shown Link the way, and together, with the help of the mirror shield, they had been able to open the passage, defeat the two witches, and destroy them with their own dark magic. Nabooru had also been freed: earlier, the witches had robbed her of her consciousness and locked her body in a heavy armor as their slave. Link had had to defeat the armor-clad warrior, and abolish the evil charm the twin witches had used to make Nabooru's body submissive. Nabooru had regained consciousness, and the memory of her heritage as the Sage of Spirit awoke in her mind.

When Link finally had freed all the Sages of the Elements, Sheik had revealed himself to be Princess Zelda, the Sage of Time _,_ the leader of the Sages. She had handed Link the Sacred Light Arrows, which were able to penetrate the dark magic that had taken possession of the former Hyrule Castle. But the enemy had ambushed them, surrounded Zelda with a magical barrier, and taken her with him to his palace, to lure Link there as well. Rauru, the Sage of Light, along with the other Sages, had opened a way for Link to get into the palace of the enemy by building a magical bridge over the abyss surrounding the palace.

When Link and Ranalla had entered the palace, they had realized that it was also filled with hostile, foreign beings, eerie music, riddles, and treacherous traps. Link had had to use the Sacred Light Arrows to dissipate the burning barrier blocking access to the throne chamber of the enemy.

And then...

At the very top, in the highest room of the giant tower, they had finally found him. Ranalla had felt the mighty magic coming from the three parts of the Triforce that met there, because the two free elements of the Triforce had found their bearers in Link and Zelda. The once beautiful man had been sitting at his instrument playing the abominable music that had been sounding throughout the palace. He had been holding Princess Zelda with his spell barrier there, and he had demanded Link's part of the Triforce from him. He had sent his evil, burning magic to Link, the magic that Ranalla knew from the birds with the broomsticks. Link had been able to ward off the magic, but Ranalla had not been able to help him in the subsequent fight against the enemy.

But she had prepared him well in the years prior. Thanks to his clear mind and his boundless courage, thanks to the hard training of the numerous battles he had fought, and thanks to Ranalla's determined instruction, he had by then become an outstanding swordsman and archer, with a strong body and persistent spirit. He had been able to handle his other weapons and tools skillfully.

But the enemy had shown no mercy.

Ranalla had known that he had also had the magic of his wife, and was therefore much stronger than the beautiful man had been before. He had been able to rise and float in the air with his magic, and from this elevated position he had thrown the evil, burning magic at Link. He had also developed a new form of magical attack that the mirror shield had been able to ward off, but not throw back. In the end, only the Master Sword had been able to hurl the magical energy back at the enemy. This way, Link had succeeded in stunning him for an instant and shooting him with one of Zelda's light arrows. The tall man had sunk to the ground, and in those short moments Link had been able to approach him and weaken him with sword blows, until he had finally defeated him.

When Ranalla had seen the man whom the woman had loved, lying on the ground in his dark armor under his tattered cloak, she had suddenly realized that he had been defeated by his own son with the aid of the shield that he himself had made.

The spell that had bound Princess Zelda had dissolved, and while they had all fled from the collapsing palace, Ranalla had wondered what would have happened if the enemy had recognized his son. Or if Link had known that the enemy's body had once belonged to a beautiful, kind man who had been his father...

The ugly tower had collapsed and sunken into the terrible abyss surrounding it. A windy platform had remained, where the enemy, in a last gasp of his power, had used the part of the Triforce that resided in him to attack Link in his true form. He had appeared as a giant monster, slashing at Link with two mighty, broad swords, and had built a fire barrier from which Link had not been able to escape. But this time, Ranalla had been able to help him. Together they had succeeded in weakening the Daemon up to the point where Zelda, with the unified power of the Sages, had been able to banish him to the Evil Realm, the place that the Sacred Realm had become when he had entered it the first time, in his quest for the Triforce.

And then, finally, it had been over.

The enemy had not been dead, but he had been gone, banished from the world and from time itself. But he had taken with him the part of the Triforce containing Power, and the Sacred Artifact had not been restored. The two other parts had remained with the two humans in whom they had embedded after the touch of the Daemon had induced the division.

Link, who had received the Triforce of Courage, had suffered severe injuries from the difficult fight, and was completely exhausted. But Zelda had received the Triforce of Wisdom, and with its help and her own magic, she had been able to heal Link and restore his strength. All the peoples of Hyrule had celebrated the victory over the cruel enemy who had destroyed the country and terrified the population for seven years.

It was during these days that Link had fallen in love with Princess Zelda, who had returned his feelings. Both were magically gifted, and the magic of the _Ocarina of Time_ had strengthened their bond, so that they had been in telepathic contact already when they had been children. Ranalla remembered the deep affection the beautiful man had felt for his wife, whom he had been able to feel and love with his magic. The tender love between Link and Zelda would have been a good prerequisite for the magical _Bonding_ that Ranalla knew from the beautiful man and his wife. She had wished very much for the two young people to achieve it, but at the end of the festivities, Impa, the last Guardian of Time, had come to Zelda and had assigned her last mission to her.

"I love him, Impa," Zelda had said. "How can I leave him? We will not remember..."

"It must be so, Zelda. This timeline must be closed. If we close this branch, the threat will be banished for a long time. But I will stay with you, and you will live your life in peace."

"But Link..."

"Only if you meet each other in a time of peace can you be together. That's why you must take the ocarina from him now and play the song, Zelda. I am coming with you. I will remember and make sure you are together."

"Do you really want to do that?"

"Yes, my darling."

All this had happened, and Ranalla's thoughts returned to the two people before her. On their hands glowed the two parts of the Triforce that remained in the World.

"Thanks to you, Ganondorf has been sealed inside the Evil Realm," said Zelda, her eyes sparkling with tears. "Thus, peace will once again reign in this world... for a time."

Link looked at her in silence, and Ranalla saw the longing in his eyes. In him dwelt the heritage of the beautiful women from the desert, and Ranalla knew of the substance called _Viss,_ which had already flooded his body and bound him to Zelda. In the eyes of the beautiful man, she had also seen this longing, back then, before the Daemon had taken over his beautiful body and his loving spirit...

"Give the Ocarina to me, Link," Zelda said.

Reluctantly, he handed her the _Ocarina of Time,_ the ancient artifact she had lent him so that he could fulfill his task. She took it with a wistful, sad expression on her face, and put it to her lips. The eternal Lullaby of the royal family of Hyrule sounded, and tears ran down her cheeks. Surprise and pain appeared in Link's face as the magic of the Ocarina seized him, and time itself ended.

2

As the magical white light of the Ocarina faded, Link withdrew his hands from the Master Sword, which had returned to its ancient stone pedestal. Ranalla looked into his blue eyes, which were now again the eyes of a child, and said:

"Goodbye, Link. Take the stones from the altar and go to Zelda, she is waiting for you. But be careful that the guards don't catch you!"

Link nodded, and set off. He had always been a quiet boy, courageous and determined, but he did not talk much. On the long journey that had found its end, she had rarely seen him laugh.

Now that their mission had been fulfilled and the timeline of the Daemon had ended, Ranalla remembered the beautiful man whose wife she had left in the forest when the Great Deku Tree sent her on her journey with Link. She wanted to help them get back together. The owl had told her what she had to do, although it had spoken just as oddly as the Great Deku Tree, and Ranalla had not understood everything. Sometimes they seemed to confuse Ranalla with the woman the beautiful man loved.

 _"You must go to him and tell him how he can free you..."_

The _Ocarina of Time_ was the Artifact of the Goddess that held a certain powerful magic. It had brought Ranalla back to the original timeline, but since the timelines had divided, ten years had passed. The beautiful man and his wife were magically bound, and she knew that for ten years, the man had suffered terribly from the separation. He would search for a way to find the woman, and his longing would make him stop at nothing. She had to find him and lead him to his wife.

The woman had made the journey from the Temple to the desert before, but Ranalla would not need as long as the woman, for she could fly. She was afraid of the dark, burning barrier that she could not pass, but she would have to wait for the man to leave the valley of the Temple. But perhaps, in this timeline, everything was different, and there were no barriers at all?

The mighty Door of Time closed, and she knew that Link had removed, from their niches in the Altar of Time, the three Spiritual Stones that opened the way to the key. He would take them to Zelda and warn her, and Impa would make sure the stones were returned to the Keepers.

Up above was a window through which the sun shone into the hidden Chamber of the Master Sword in the Temple of Time. Ranalla flew up and out through the window. From here she knew the way the woman had gone. Through the courtyard of the great Temple, then through the alley to the market square, through the city gate to the large field, and then, southwest.

3

 _Since they had left him, there had been no joy. He was still breathing, and he ate and slept, but his life was over. He had spent fourteen wonderful months together with her, and three hours with her and their son, whom he had given the name Renlin Kerdis._

 _I seek the Ren-Bird._

 _No one but his parents knew his name._

.

 _When he woke up in his bed in the pavilion the morning after his son's birth, both son and mother were gone. He stood up and looked for them in the garden, for he thought they might have gotten up before him, but he could not find them. He went down to Nabooru and asked her, but she just frowned at him and continued to cut the fruit for his breakfast. Even Risha, Soliris, Keli, and Anit, the four Sisters who were his guards, had only questioning eyes for him and did not seem to remember Ranalla. He rode with them to the Fortress and spoke with Letria, Sirla, and Weri; with Rista, Laira, Niala, Blir, and Aryl; and it was the same with them. He even asked Tirin, Lenori, Lureli, and the other little girls, but they could not give him an answer, either. No one remembered that they had had a queen for fourteen months._

 _In his dismay, he slowly realized that no one besides him knew Ranalla, and no one had seen her. He came up with the idea of looking for her traces in the Temple, and he found three things: a black cloth of a special material, which belonged neither to any of the Sisters, nor to him; a pair of soft boots of dark leather; and the dictionary of Sheikah that Ranalla had written._

 _But then he found still another trace, and that was the strangest of all, as he could not explain how it had happened: Ranalla's magic was in his body. He had her complete magic and felt its glowing and its purity at every moment of the day. She must have given him her magic before she left. But that meant that he could not feel her anywhere, and it also meant that she was without her magic, helpless and alone._

 _He also had the books the twins had brought him, and his own translation of the first volume of Andyr Kendrice's book on the nature of magic, but that was all that was left. He showed Nabooru these things, but she sought other explanations and urged him to forget his dream. Not even the fact that he spoke Sheikah fluently could convince her._

 _"You know that there's always only one Ren-Bird, Ganondorf," she said. "Accept it. Impa is the only magically gifted woman, there are no others. But who knows, maybe she will change her mind, especially if you speak Sheikah with her. In autumn, the examinations of the Elite Fighters will take place again, and this time you could go there, for a change. For ten years now you have been dodging, and I am running out of excuses."_

 _That night, more things had disappeared: Ranalla's horse, its saddle and bridle, the bow, and the quiver of arrows; his second sword, which he had given her to practice; the little sword for Renlin, that Aryl had made; Sirla's yellow ocarina, Nabooru's child carrier, and the grammar of Sheikah that Ranalla had also written for him. The twins were also gone, along with their burning barrier. Strangely enough, Nabooru and the others remembered them, and also the barrier, but not Ranalla._

.

 _That all had happened ten years ago. He had searched the whole world for her, had traveled to every country, and had asked for her everywhere. No one had seen her, no one knew anything about her. It was as if she had disappeared from the world. How could it be that he was the only one who remembered her?_

 _He sat at his desk in the living room and tried to read the letter from King Nohansen of Hyrule, who invited him to the next tournament on the occasion of the examinations of the Elite Fighters. He found it difficult to concentrate, for his thoughts wandered off again and again and got lost in his memories of his time with Ranalla, the happiest time of his life._

 _Even after the ten years since she had disappeared, he missed her as much as on the first day. He often woke up at night in his bed in the pavilion, expecting to feel her warm body in his arms, and was confused when he did not find her. Sometimes he went into the forest in search of her, and remembered with horror, after a few steps, that she was no longer there._

 _The words on the letter blurred before his eyes. In the last ten years, he had always sent Nabooru to Hyrule Castle for the tournaments, as he had always been away in search for Ranalla. This year, too, he would do so, although Nabooru had been talking about retiring. They were both forty-one years old now, but while Nabooru was slowly showing the influence of aging, he had not aged a single day since the time when Ranalla had disappeared. He suspected that it was because of the_ Bonding _, for she had explained to him that by merging their magic, their lifetime had been evenly distributed between them._

 _But another idea came to his mind whenever he thought of Ranalla. Could it be that she was perhaps in a place where she was not exposed to the influence of time, and therefore he did not age either? She had not answered him when he had asked her about the place where she had spent the last two hundred and fifteen years. Had she gone there again? Or had she been brought there? From the beginning, he had refused to believe that she was dead, and the fact that he did not age supported his hope of finding her as he had promised her._

 _As he looked again at the elegant handwriting on the royal letter, he realized that in the meantime, it had grown too dark to read. The late evening of the summer had broken in, and he lit the candles in the candlestick on his desk with his magic. As usual, his gaze fell on the dresser to his left, where he had nearly kissed Ranalla eleven years ago. She had opened her lips and closed her eyes, and he had felt her warm breath on his lips as she had gasped and whimpered with excitement and anticipation. He had wanted to press his lips upon hers and finally do what the_ Viss _in his body had been urging him to do for many weeks: carry her in his arms into the pavilion and explore her body with his, love her..._

 _A shudder ran through his body and he turned his gaze away as the memory of that day flooded his senses. He closed his eyes, but when he opened them again, his gaze fell on the sofa. There he had kissed her hand while his body had been vibrating with desire, and he had felt her longing through the fine connection to her magic that he had created with the fight. The firm buds of her breasts had been pressing against the cloth of her red tunic, and her heart had pounded so violently that he could see her body shake. Her muscles had been tense, and her hand had trembled in his. And her eyes... those huge black pupils in her red eyes had shown him that she wanted him, and he had been overwhelmed by her, for none of the nine Sisters had ever looked at him with such eyes._

 _And over there, the dining table... He saw her before his eyes at their first breakfast, as she obediently ate the soaked grains with fruit and thirstily drank the cold tea... After the disappearance, Nabooru had said she could not remember ever having put more than one setting on the table, because since he had become King, he had always eaten alone. He had then reminded her of the snacks that she had brought during the training sessions to Ranalla when she was pregnant, but Nabooru had said there had always been only three meals per day in the Temple._

 _A fine tone came to him as he looked at the empty table near the dark window. Another one sounded, a few notes higher, and Ganondorf thought of the song of the Ren-Bird that Ranalla had liked so much. So many hours had she practiced with Sirla's ocarina, and her frustrated growls still sounded in his ears, from when her fingers did not obey her or the moisture clogged the air channel of the ocarina..._

 _The higher note sounded two more times, then a lower one, and one still lower, and then again a higher one. He frowned, because at the edge of his consciousness he realized that it was the wrong tone, that actually another lower one had to come, and then the higher..._

 _...and then he froze._

 _Oh, which of them dared!_

 _He jumped up from his chair, ran to the door with great strides, and_ pulled _it open. The melody started again from the beginning, and the sounds were louder in the corridor. He remembered that in the afternoon, when he had finished playing, he had not closed the door completely, but he had not cared. Nevertheless, they were not allowed to..._

 _With a quick gesture of his hand, he lit the torches in the brackets and stormed over the ancient stone slabs of the floor, and the steps of his heavy boots echoed off the walls. When he reached the workshop, he angrily pushed the door open and took a deep breath to scold whichever Sister dared to touch the organ without his permission..._

4

Ranalla heard his quick, heavy steps in the corridor, and knew he was angry. Was it perhaps because of the wrong tone she had played when she had not hit the right key? She remembered the melody exactly, but her steps were too small for the large distances between the keys that had to be pressed, and when she rose from each key into the air and landed on the next, she could not aim so well. Somehow, that had been easier with Link...

Through the door, which had already been a little open when she had arrived, she heard him coming, and flew quickly under the bench. It was dark in the room, and she wanted the beautiful man to find her by her light, but only when his anger had dissolved.

The door swung open and crashed against the wall. She heard him take a deep breath, but then it was quiet. Carefully, she pushed her head out from under the bench and took a quick look at the door before she retreated.

 _"Nest..."_ she heard him whisper, and suddenly it was bright in the room because he had lit the candles. Now she could stick out her head confidently, for her light would not be so noticeable any more. She saw him slowly coming to the organ and pressing a key.

A tone sounded.

The air supply was on, because Ranalla had used all her strength to move the small lever. He frowned, pushed the lever back, then he looked around the room again, put out the candles and wanted to leave. When he had almost closed the door, however, he returned and switched on the air supply again. He shook his head and closed the door.

Ranalla immediately flew back to the keys and hopped wildly on them. The door opened, slowly this time, and he came in again. For a moment, she feared that he might not be able to see her, like the other man, in the other timeline... but he saw her glow, and she heard him gasp with surprise. He lit the candles again and sat down on the bench in front of the keys.

In the light of the candles, Ranalla saw his beautiful face, his golden shining eyes looking at her in amazement. She flew to one of the registers which she knew would produce the sound that resembled the ocarina, and landed on it. When his hand came to the lever, she rose, and he pushed it. She flew to the key of the middle C and hopped on it once. His hand came back, and he pressed the key of the higher A, then his finger rose. Ranalla flew to the A and hopped two more times, then she hopped left to the G, then to the F, then she skipped a key and hopped on the D. She rose into the air, and the beautiful man played the E and the F. Ranalla hopped once again on the C, then on the lower A.

She looked up at him and saw that his lips were trembling. He turned his right hand around, which had been lying on the keys, and held it out to Ranalla. She flew there and landed on his hand. He lifted her up, and she saw the wonder in his face, which was beautiful now, and kind, and his long hair was braided to the sides, as she knew it.

 _"Nestir sijes?"_ he breathed.

Ah, he used those words again, which she did not understand, and she was annoyed. She could understand the words when others spoke them or when he spoke to others, but not when he spoke to her. And now she had come the long way from the Temple in the city, and he spoke to her using these strange words!

But she had to try. Maybe he could still understand her, like Link, or the Great Deku Tree.

"I'm Ranalla!" she shouted.

He showed no reaction.

 _"Nest malrijes?"_ he said again. _"Tagrijes nest?"_

It did not work. She had to make him somehow use her language. She thought feverishly, then she had an idea. She flew to the door and saw his gaze follow her. The door was still open, and she flew out into the corridor. She heard his steps as he got up and followed her, and she flew on until she came to the living room. The door was also open there, and she flew in. Inside, she waited until he had reached her, then she flew to the library and found one of the books with the dark cover without a label. She landed on it, and he came and took it out of the shelf. He opened it and she read:

 _Driss ill Tria, ill Andyr Kendrice_

 _The application of magic, by Andyr Kendrice_

He read the title aloud, and she hopped up and down on the page. He laughed softly.

"You want me to speak Sheikah, am I right?" he said in her mother tongue.

Oh, it felt so good to understand him!

Delighted, she flew up, and he closed the book, put it back into the shelf, and held out his hand. She landed on it, and he went with her to his desk. He sat on the chair and she jumped from his hand onto the table.

"So who are you, little Sheikah fairy?" he asked kindly. "Did you get lost? How come you know the song of the Ren-Bird?"

"I'm Ranalla!" she shouted again as loud as she could. He did not seem to have heard her. What was wrong with him? Frustrated, she flew up and hovered above the table. He could see her, but he did not seem able to hear her. She had to find another way to communicate with him.

On the table lay a piece of paper with written words. She landed on it and looked at the words. They were in Hylian, but she knew the characters. Perhaps that would work. She ran across the paper and looked for an N. Right at the beginning she found one, and she tried to point at it with her finger.

"N..." said the beautiful man.

He had understood what she wanted!

Full of joy, she ran to an A, then to a T.

"NAT..." he read.

Ranalla continued. "...RIS RANALLA."

 _"Natris Ranalla!"_ he read, and drew back, gasping.

 _"Ti natril Ranalla?"_ he asked incredulously.

Ranalla knew he needed proof. Now she would play her trump card, for she remembered the name of his son because the words of his name were in her mother tongue. Quickly, she flew over the letters on the paper:

"WIL LORIN NATRIT RENLIN KERDIS."

She looked up from the paper and saw his astonishment.

"Ranalla?" he breathed.

"ANDRYL MI!" she said without thinking, with the letters on the paper, and then whirled through the air. But with this simple, miraculous sentence, the perspective of her presence in her little fairy body finally returned to its place, and she remembered.

She was Ranalla, but she was also the woman.

She herself was the woman he loved.

She herself was the mother of Renlin Kerdis.

She was... she was...

"Madam!" he breathed. Ranalla wanted to fly back to the paper, but he put his hand on it.

"Wait, Madam," he said, and Ranalla heard his breath tremble. "I can help you!"

He quickly took a new paper from the drawer of the table, grabbed a charcoal, and wrote all the letters of the Hylian alphabet in a row, so large that her whole body fit on one letter. This way, she could answer him quickly when he asked:

"What happened to you, Madam? And where is Renlin?"

 _MY BODY IS IN THE VILLAGE OF THE KOKIRI._

 _IT IS HEAVILY INJURED._

 _YOU MUST HEAL IT._

 _I SHOW YOU THE WAY._

 _NO HORSE AND NO WEAPONS._

 _YOU ARE GOING FOR GOOD._

 _TOMORROW._

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Translation of the Sheikah and Gerudo phrases:

 _Nest... - What..._  
 _Nestir sijes? - Who are you?_  
 _Nest malrijes? - What do you want?_  
 _Tagrijes nest? - Are you looking for something?_

 _Natris Ranalla. - I am Ranalla._ _Ti natril Ranalla? - You are Ranalla?_  
 _Andryl mi! - Love me!_  
 _Wil Lorin natrit Renlin Kerdis. - Your son's name is Renlin Kerdis._


	34. Chapter 34

**Chapter 34**

1

They had been on the road for three days.

The next morning, Ganondorf had transferred his function to his astonished deputy, Nabooru, and had told her that she was now the Exalted Nabooru. He had not told her about Ranalla, who had been sitting on his neck under his long hair. He had put on his dark desert suit and packed some provisions and rupees into a backpack, then he had left with Ranalla, who remembered the way as if by miracle. On the first day, he had marched without rest until midnight, then he had just stretched out on the grass and slept for the few hours until dawn. Ranalla had slept on his chest, enjoying the touch of his skin, although his heart shook her tiny fairy body with every beat. On the second day he had paused at midday to sleep under a tree. He had brought along the paper with the letters and Ranalla had told him that he had to save his strength to heal her body. In the evening, he oriented himself using the stars, and marched again until midnight, and in the late afternoon of the third day they arrived at the entrance to the Kokiri Forest.

He could not get through the barrier, and Ranalla flew in to talk to the Deku Tree. When she came to its clearing, she was frightened at first, for instead of the huge tree she knew, there was only a small tree whose trunk was as thick as a child's body. She remembered the little shoot she had seen in the other timeline after Link had defeated the enemy in the Forest Temple. That had been in the future, in the other future... She knew that the Deku Tree could perceive time in a similar way as the Guardians, but here the path of time seemed to take wondrous windings.

Still, she had to talk to him.

"Great Deku Tree," she began. "I am Navi, the fairy without a partner. I have come back."

 _"Greetings, Navi. I see that thou and the Treasure have succeeded in ending the timeline of the Daemon. I thank thee. Be the Treasure well?"_

"Yes, Great Deku Tree," she replied. "He is in Hyrule Castle and my sister Impa will care for him."

 _"I am glad, Navi,"_ said the tree. _"But I feel that thou hast something that be concerning thyself."_

"That is correct, Great Deku Tree. I would like to ask you to reverse the transformation of my body."

 _"But it shall die straightaway, lovely fairy,"_ said the tree. _"And besides... I remember not which tree thine body was..."_

"I have a solution to both problems, Great Deku Tree," said Ranalla. "I know myself which tree my body was. It is the one who was the house of the Treasure. And I found the one who enchanted the weapon that inflicted my wounds on me. He is waiting outside the barrier and asks to be admitted, so that he can heal my body."

 _"Well enow,"_ said the Deku Tree. _"But thou must lead him. And thou knowst the conditions. When thou leavest the forest, thou wilt forget."_

"Yes, Great Deku Tree. I will now bring the one who will heal me."

She flew back to Ganondorf, who was pacing impatiently before the entrance. She flew in a whirl around his neck and raced through his hair, then he followed her through the barrier to the meadow of the Deku Tree. The Kokiri children ran in amazement after the tall man and wanted to talk to him, but he asked them to be patient until he had finished.

"Please begin, Great Deku Tree," said Ranalla when they had arrived in front of the tree.

 _"The body dies presently, Navi,"_ the tree said. _"Thou must make haste."_

Ganondorf had also heard him and nodded.

A bright, blue energy sphere appeared on the grass in front of them. The magic of the Deku Tree rose from it in bright whirls, then it grew longer and slowly took on the outline of a body. While it solidified, the light slowly withdrew from it.

"I'm ready, Madam," said Ganondorf, sinking to his knees.

Ranalla let her mind sink into her body, and the pain broke over her. As though through a dark veil, she felt in her last moment his lips on hers. Her magic flowed as a painful wave from his tongue into her body, and then it grew dark around her.

2

"Is she dead?"

It was Saria's voice, and she heard tears in it.

"No," he said, and his voice was so beautiful!

"But she does not move."

"She is unconscious. She has great pain, and it will take a while for me to heal the large wound. Maybe I need more than a day to do it."

"Will she get well again?"

"Yes."

The voices faded, and she heard only the rustle of the leaves in the wind and Ganondorf's soft breath. It was cold, but then she felt the warm cover of his magic that surrounded her and caressed her. When it was warmer again and she felt the rays of the sun on her body, she heard his soft voice in her ear.

"Can you hear me, Madam?"

She tried to move her lips, but no sound came. She tried to nod. That worked.

"I am exhausted and I am going to sleep a little, Madam. I have healed you enough that you are no longer in danger of death. The tree will watch over you."

Then it was quiet.

She let her mind relax, and it was dark again.

His hand on her forehead woke her, and she opened her eyes. She saw his face, and there was so much love in his eyes!

"How do you feel, Madam?"

She closed her eyes and listened to herself. There was still a pain in her stomach, but it was slowly fading, and there was some tension in her shoulder. She tried to look there and was amazed when she managed.

"Good, Your Maj..."

His lips were so sweet, and his arms were so gentle... and his magic was like a tender kiss that caressed her entire body. She sent her magic to him, and full of joy, she felt his arms tightening around her. He broke away from her and kissed her again, and she had forgotten completely how it felt to feel the _Feeling_ in his arms.

3

After another day, the last pain had also passed, and he had not only healed her heavy injuries and her burnt hands, but had also helped her pregnancy-stretched tissue return to normal, and restored her strength.

They had bathed and washed their clothes in the stream that flowed through the village. It was not possible to repair the cuts in Ranalla's combat suit with magic, but the Kokiri children gave her a needle and a fine black thread and looked at her in mute amazement as she sat naked on a large stone in the sun and mended her suit.

The village was not equipped for guests, and it was a bit odd to make love under the whispering leaves of the young Deku Tree. He had no visible face like the old tree, but they could feel his magic that permeated the whole meadow like a dense net of delicate sunrays.

After ten years of separation, Ranalla was just as excited as on the day Ganondorf had made love to her for the first time, in the pavilion on the roof of the Temple. But he sent his magic to her, which caressed her body, and he gave her many short kisses, which repeatedly induced the _Feeling_ and made one fulfillment after another flow through her body. Afterwards, she was completely soft and relaxed in his arms, and when he entered her new, healed, rested body with his accumulated longing, the sensation was so strong, so powerful, so wonderfully fulfilling that she barely dared to breathe, and silent cries broke from her lips before Ganondorf closed them with his again. He lowered himself to her and pressed her body to himself, and, full of bliss, she felt his arms holding her as they moved. She let herself be carried away by his wild rhythm, and wrapped her legs around his body as his last quick thrusts made her tremble, before he buried his face in her hair and whispered her name again and again. Her arms broke from his body and fell into the grass as she enjoyed, smiling, the mighty waves of his climax.

She opened her eyes as the familiar-yet-so-new feeling of unity with him seized her, and the blue field of their merged magic fell over their bodies. He kissed her, and with a thought, she sent him her wish to turn with her on his back so she could lie on his chest, and he obeyed without a word.

 _"Miriju va, ri-su ruad,"_ she said softly. _"Darit, ban ri sanril sijes."_

It was the first time she spoke Gerudo since they had found each other again.

 _"Darit, ri-su ruadi,"_ he replied, _"ban ri dernil sijes."_

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 _Translation of the Gerudo Phrases:  
"Miriju va, ri-su ruad. Darit, ban ri sanril sijes." - _"I love you, Your Majesty. Thank you for healing me."

 _"Darit, ri-su ruadi, ban ri dernil sijes." - "Thank you, my Queen, for coming to me."_


	35. Epilogue

**Epilogue**

1

They spent two months in the village of the Kokiri in the enchanted forest, which the children of the Deku Tree called the Lost Woods. The children led them through the forest and showed them where they could find edible plants and fruit, and they drank the pure water of the stream that flowed through the village. For a yellow rupee, they bought a hairbrush in the little shop of the Kokiri, and chuckled as the children admired the small gem with big eyes. Ranalla braided Ganondorf's hair every morning and felt sweet shivers running over his body as he enjoyed her touch.

She slept in his arms under the sky full of stars, and since he had healed Ranalla, they had not let a single hour of the day pass without kissing. When it rained, they built a dome of magical energy on the meadow of the Deku Tree and made love quietly and full of tenderness in the dry grass below it.

As time passed, Ganondorf wanted to do something and asked the children if there was anything he could fix for them. They led him and Ranalla across the winding paths of the forest, then through a labyrinth and a steep staircase to a large clearing, where they found the entrance to the Forest Temple. Once, there had been another staircase leading to the door of the Temple, but it was destroyed, and the heavy stone debris lay scattered on the clearing. Without the magically reinforced gloves, it was hard work to move the parts, but the Deku Tree supported Ganondorf's strength and helped him put the stairs together again. With the twin girls at his hands, he wandered through the forest in search of limestone and clay, from which he made cement, restoring the debris of the stairs to wholeness.

When the stairs were repaired, they entered the Temple and wandered through the old halls and the garden. Ganondorf was astonished that Ranalla knew the Temple so well, but she did not tell him anything. She noticed that the hostile beings who had populated the Temple in the other timeline were missing here. The treacherous traps, riddles, twisted corridors, and upside down rooms that Link had needed to overcome in order to reach the enemy lurking deep inside the Temple, they had also disappeared.

The children were happy, and the Deku Tree thanked Ganondorf and Ranalla.

 _"What wilt thee as a reward for thine work, son of the Gerudo?"_ it asked Ganondorf as they both sat on the meadow and bathed in the embrace of its mighty magic while they rested.

"Nothing, Great Deku Tree," Ganondorf replied. "It was a pleasure to help you."

 _"I shall think,"_ said the Deku Tree. _"I shall imagine something."_

They both smiled, because by now, they both knew about the forgetfulness of the tree. But the young tree obviously did not forget as fast as they had assumed, as since that day, Ranalla noticed a subtle change that surprised her and filled her with awe.

Up to now, their spirits had only been able to touch during the short time of the blue aura that their magic, strengthened by the _Bonding,_ created whenever they experienced fulfillment in the game of their love. Ranalla had once also transferred one of her memories to Sirla, but even there the intimate physical contact of a kiss had been necessary.

Now, however, she found that the influence of the powerful, omnipresent magic of the tree resulted in a gradual development of a telepathic connection between her and Ganondorf. She noticed that she received Ganondorf's most secret wishes when they made love, and full of joy, she fulfilled his longing. She had the impression that it was similar with him, although he did not seem to realize it consciously, because she noticed again and again that he did exactly what she inwardly wanted.

And then, one day, when they were eating the fruit of the forest with the Kokiri children in the village, Ranalla recognized a timid attempt of the girl Saria to make contact with her telepathically. Delighted, Ranalla looked into the delicate face under the green hair, and with her mind, invited Saria to share her thoughts. In a single moment, she received from Saria a huge collection of memories, thoughts, and feelings, describing the childhood of her son in the village of the Kokiri. Overwhelmed with happiness, she embraced Saria and decided to try to transfer the memories to Ganondorf.

In the evening, she was lying happily in his arms, under the joyous play of the glowing fireflies, in the meadow of the Deku Tree. As the blue aura of their merged magic slowly retreated into their bodies, Ganondorf finally dared to ask. He straightened up beside Ranalla and stroked her cheek.

"Madam, where is Renlin?"

Ranalla smiled and opened her eyes.

"He is well, Your Majesty."

"I do not doubt that, Madam, for I see that you are happy. I would like to see him. Is that possible?"

She nodded. "We can visit him, Your Majesty. But it is a secret, and he will not recognize us."

"Is he here in the forest?"

She shook her head. "No, Your Majesty. He grew up here, but we must leave the forest if we want to visit him. And afterwards we cannot come back, unless the Deku Tree calls us. At least he claims that, but I think he does not know exactly."

 _"That be true, Madam Ranalla,"_ they heard the deep voice of the tree, that did not fit with his young trunk. _"But since thou art a fairy no longer, thou wilt be by the barrier stopped, whether thou wilt remember the path or no."_

"But I can talk to Saria," said Ranalla, smiling. "And she could ask you to let us through the barrier."

 _"That I had not considered,"_ said the Deku Tree, and Ranalla heard a loving smile in his voice. _"I am glad that my gift be useful to thee, Madam Ranalla."_

"A gift?" Ganondorf asked, raising his eyebrows in amazement.

Ranalla nodded.

"I'll show you, Your Majesty."

She drew him down to kiss him and gingerly laid her hands on his temples. While the _Feeling_ was striving towards its peak in her body, she sent Ganondorf in a gentle stream the ample package of memories she had received from Saria. When the _Feeling_ faded, he broke from her, and she saw a reverent expression in his face.

"I received these memories today at lunch from Saria," she said. "You will find that you are also able to send me your thoughts at any time, even if we do not touch each other, and that you can receive my thoughts and the thoughts of other beings, when they are telepathically addressed to you. Try it. Open your perception and look for my spirit."

Ranalla closed her eyes and waited. In the glowing magical field that filled the meadow, she felt Ganondorf's touch – at first gently and hesitantly, and then their spirits met in a firm connection that made Ranalla shiver.

 _"Andrys, Ranalla ill Sheikah,"_ his voice sounded through the connection in her mind, and with the words, she received a powerful feeling that expressed Ganondorf's relationship to her. In it, she found his love, his respect and admiration, but also his desire and longing for her, for her body, and for the touch of her magic. She opened her eyes and saw his face above her, its expression reflecting the feelings she had received through the telepathic connection.

 _"Miriju va, Ganondorf Dragmire, ri-su ruad,"_ she replied to him, and saw the joy in his eyes as he received her thoughts. He looked with a smile at the leaves of the Deku Tree that rustled softly in the starlight. With a slight bow he said:

"Thank you, Great Deku Tree. And I also thank you for protecting our son and for saving Madam Ranalla's life."

 _"To aid thee were a pleasure, son of the Gerudo,"_ said the Deku Tree.

Ganondorf's gaze came back to her. She felt his magic winding around her body like a familiar, loving embrace and sent her magic to him with joy.

"What do you want to do now, Madam?" he asked.

She sensed that he wanted to make a decision, because she, too, had been thinking about it.

Together with her son Renlin Kerdis, whose name had been shortened by the Deku Tree to the central part _Link,_ she had closed the timeline of the Daemon. In that timeline, she should have died, and her son should have fought against the Daemon alone. But the Goddess had preserved Ranalla's life for the second time, allowing her to return together with Renlin-Link to the original timeline, for which a long time of peace had been predicted.

Ganondorf had told her that none of the Gerudo Sisters remembered her, and Ranalla guessed that his own memories of her had been preserved in this timeline for a reason. Rauru himself had told her, in the shape of the great owl Kaepora Gaebora, that she must go to Ganondorf and tell him how to free her. Apparently, it was the wish of the Goddess that they were together, and Ranalla wanted to make Ganondorf happy.

"I want to give you a son whom you can see grow up, Your Majesty. And perhaps some more, and also a few daughters, if you like. But we cannot go back to the Gerudo."

"Why not, Madam?"

"My mission in the world is finished, Your Majesty. For the rest of my life, I can now do what I want. The only limitation is that I must not allow the world to learn of my existence."

"Will you tell me the reason, Madam?"

"Yes, Your Majesty, if you decide to come with me."

"Where do you want to go?"

"Home."

2

The road to the mountains led to the north-west, but they first wanted to go north to visit Renlin at Hyrule Castle. They did not want to conceal themselves with magic, but they had stolen two cloaks with wide hoods from a farm they had passed, and had laid rupees for them on the doorstep. After two days of walking on foot, they had reached the capital, Hyrule Castle Town, and now were crossing the drawbridge on a sunny afternoon. Despite the warm late summer weather, they put on their cloaks and pulled the hoods deep over their faces. Each built a barrier around their magic, and it made them miss each other almost painfully.

Ganondorf had agreed without hesitation to accompany Ranalla and rebuild together with her the settlement of the Sheikah on _Bregis ill Regarani,_ the Mountain of the Eagles. Ranalla had been looking forward to seeing her home again, but her heart had been a little heavy because she had been afraid that she would not endure seeing Link and Impa without revealing herself to them. Back in the Chamber of the Sages, Rauru had made it clear to Ranalla that no one was to know of her mission, and she had considered what she would be able to do for a long time. And then, while she and Ganondorf had enjoyed the last days in the Kokiri Forest, she had at last found a way to circumvent Rauru's restraint without breaking it.

After talking to the Deku Tree, she had eagerly begun to explore and experiment with her extended telepathy, in order to learn about its limitations. Amazed, she had discovered a new sense that her body had developed to perceive other telepathic minds. When she opened her mind, she saw Ganondorf's strong, passionate spirit, the bright little spirits of the Kokiri children, and the calm, consoling consciousness of the Deku Tree, which filled her with awe.

With some simple experiments, she had found out that she was able to send her thoughts as the most delicate impulses, even if there was no fixed telepathic link between her and Ganondorf's mind. She had asked him to bring her a certain fruit while he was fighting with the long, firm sticks of the withered Deku plants against the enthusiastic Kokiri children. Delighted, she had received the fruit from him shortly afterwards, and had hugged him.

Ganondorf seemed to think that it was his own idea, and she had a guilty conscience because of that. She decided to tell him later about her experiment, but only after she had carried out her plan. For, quietly and secretly, she had made a decision she did not even share with Ganondorf.

The market square of the capital was full of people, Zoras and Gorons, buying things at the various stalls, looking at goods, or selling something themselves. Ganondorf bought some fresh fruit from a stand, and they sat down to eat on the flat edge of the fountain in the center of the market square, which had been surrounded by a grid in the other timeline. While they ate, they watched the road leading from the market square north to the royal castle of Hyrule.

Near the fountain was the booth of a farmer selling chickens and milk. His little daughter's hair was almost as red as Ganondorf's, who had tied his to a plait, hiding it under his hood. The cages of the chickens did not seem to be particularly sturdy, because the chickens ran away again and again, and the little red-haired girl had to catch them.

Ranalla smiled when she heard the farmer's excited voice urging his daughter, attracting her and Ganondorf's attention:

"Quick, Malon, if they get under the wheels...! Look, there soldiers are coming, oh, help!"

She had long recognized the farmer's voice and wondered in her mind whether Druja had remained with him.

This time, several chickens had managed to leave their cages, and the little girl and her father were running around between the people and the stalls to catch them.

"Hold that chicken!"

Ranalla stiffened in the middle of her movement when she was just about to bite into a peach. Her eyes searched frantically for the origin of the voice, and then she saw a chicken that was running right in her direction. Behind the chicken ran a boy in a green tunic, with a pointed green hat on his head.

"Link!"

Another voice called for him, which she also knew. Ganondorf had also recognized the voice and turned his head in the direction it came from. At the entrance of the street leading to the castle, Impa stood in a blue suit with short legs, and beside her stood a little girl with blond hair, in a white dress with a pink apron.

The boy turned his head and looked briefly at Impa, then he ran further after the chicken. With a quick grasp, Ganondorf caught the chicken and held it. The boy's big blue eyes widened with astonishment and admiration, and then a beaming smile brightened his face. He came to Ranalla and Ganondorf, who gave him the chicken. Link took it under his arm, and Ranalla saw the pale mark of the Triforce on his left hand holding the chicken.

Link looked at Ganondorf's face.

"Thank you, Mister!" he said happily. "Now old Talon will have to let me ride on the foal, and when I grow up I will buy her. She's called Epona, and her mother is a genuine Gerudo mare!"

Ranalla looked at the boy with a beating heart. She knew every detail of his face, for in the other timeline she had accompanied him both as a child and as a young adult. His blond hair peered out under his green hat in long, stubborn strands, forming a cocky whirl above his forehead. On his belt hung the leather case with Sirla's yellow ocarina, and on his back she saw the blue scabbard with Aryl's sword and the wooden shield he had bought in the Kokiri shop.

"If she is a Gerudo mare, her foal will be just as big and strong as its mother," said Ganondorf. "This is so with all Gerudo. They are the healthiest beings in the world. But look, your mother is calling for you."

Link turned his head back to Impa, who was holding Zelda's hand and waiting for Link.

"Oh, Madam Impa is not my mother," he said. "But she is nice, and she teaches me awesome things, how to fight with the sword and shoot arrows with the bow, how to hide, and how to use my magic!"

"You're magically gifted?" Ganondorf asked with an astonished expression.

"Sure, Mister. Impa says that the heritage of the royal family must be in my blood, for my friend Princess Zelda is also magically gifted."

He looked with loving eyes at Impa and Zelda, who seemed to be slowly getting impatient.

"Who are your parents?" Ganondorf asked.

"The Great Deku Tree says, a mighty King of the Gerudo and a proud daughter of the Sheikah," Link declared with pride. Then he frowned a little and said. "Although Madam Impa does not really believe this, I fear, for she says the King of the Gerudo has no wife, and there is no other Sheikah besides her."

"Do you know what a Gerudo looks like?" Ganondorf asked.

"Of course, Mister," Link said. "He's tall, has red hair and yellow eyes... just like yours. But you cannot be a Gerudo, for there is only one male Gerudo, and that is the King."

"If you say so..." Ganondorf said with a soft smile.

"Do you know what a proud daughter of the Sheikah looks like?" Ranalla finally took heart to ask, and looked into Link's blue eyes.

"Sure, Madam, just like Impa over there," said Link and gestured with his free arm to Impa. "She has white hair and..."

He looked back at Ranalla, but trailed off in confusion.

"...red eyes," he added softly.

His gaze went to Ganondorf, then came back to Ranalla.

"But..." he stammered, shaking his head. "You cannot be a Sheikah, because Impa is the only survivor of the Sheikah."

"You're right, Link," said Ranalla, and at that moment she wanted to bite her tongue.

"Hey," Link said suspiciously. "How do you know my name?"

"Madam Impa has just called you," Ganondorf filled in for her and gave Link his hand. "I am _Lorin ill Deron, Andyr ill Serok,"_ he said, taking care to pronounce his name clearly. "I am glad to meet you."

Link put his little hand in his, and Ranalla felt Ganondorf shudder.

"Thank you for catching the chicken for me," he said, then stretched out his hand to Ranalla.

"I am _Dern Cedris,"_ Ranalla said, giving him her hand. "I also have a son, his name is _Renlin Kerdis."_

"Where is he?" Link asked. "Can I play with him?"

"He's not here, but we're going to visit him," said Ganondorf. "We have a long way to go."

"Link!" called Impa again. "Come, bring the chicken back and leave the gentleman and lady alone!"

As they all looked at Impa, Ranalla used the short moment to execute the first part of her secret plan. Quickly, she opened her perception and sought with her new sense for Impa's spirit in the distance. Next to her, she saw Ganondorf's mind she knew, then Link's and Zelda's childish spirits, who reminded her of the spirits of the Kokiri children, but Impa's consciousness shone like a beacon in the midst of the pale creatures on the market square. In the most gentle way possible, Ranalla sent a delicate impulse that would embed in Impa's consciousness and wait there until it was needed.

 _"Two men who worship you live in this castle. You must find them."_

Deep in her heart, Ranalla hoped that the feelings of the two men were present and intact in this timeline, and that they would last until Impa was ready.

All this had taken less than an instant, and she had enough time for the second part of her plan. Link was right in front of her, and it was easy to reach his mind with an equally gentle impulse, and deposit her message in his memory. It consisted of a certain feeling she had received ten years ago from Ganondorf's spirit, and of a picture to show him the way: a high, cone-shaped mountain with its peak above the clouds; at the top, a huge crater whose rugged walls of solidified lava protected a village in its interior; a long, steep stairway that wound around the mountain, its steps covered by dense bushes so that they could not be seen from outside. More than two hundred years had passed since Ranalla had left this place, and the memory of it was all that was left to her.

Link turned his head back to Ganondorf, who winked at him and gestured him to hurry.

"Goodbye, Mister," Link said, running away with the chicken under his arm. "Goodbye, Madam. Give Renlin Kerdis my greetings!"

Ganondorf took Ranalla's hand and met her gaze. She nodded, and then they both dropped their barriers for a brief moment. They sent their magic to their son and met his, who flared up in joyous recognition before he left their reach.

He was no longer a silent boy. He was cheerful, friendly, and polite; he had friends, and had fun; and he was proud of his parents, whom he did not know. Although he looked like a Hylian, he was a male Gerudo, and Ranalla knew that his heritage would eventually require the support of his father. It would take a few more years, but when the time came and the _Viss_ flowed into his body, he would know where to look for answers.

And until then, she could wait.

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 **Postscript**

This book originated from the memories of His Majesty Ganondorf Dragmire _(Lorin ill Deron, Andyr ill Serok)_ , the last King of the Gerudo, and his wife Ranalla of the Sheikah _(Dern Cedris),_ whom my sister Drilla and I met in the settlement of the Sheikah on the Mountain of the Eagles, when we arrived there after our parents Lady Impa of the Sheikah and Lord Richard Kendrice passed away.

Ganondorf and Ranalla told us their story in Gerudo and Sheikah, allowing us to learn the language of the Gerudo. In this Hylian translation of the book, some parts of dialogue were reproduced in the original language, so that the reader can get an impression of the two languages. The appendix of this book contains a short dictionary and grammar of Sheikah and Gerudo, but it has been detached for better handling.

Through my research on the nature of magic and the phenomenon of love, I have come to the conclusion that both are inextricably linked. Both are of divine origin and have the characteristic (especially in combination with one another) of folding and bending the structure of space-time, thereby increasing entropy in the universe. The story of Ganondorf and Ranalla impressively demonstrates the unity of the two concepts.

To my great delight, His Majesty could recall from his memory almost the entire contents of my book _Natiar ill Tria_ , as during his time with Ranalla in the Temple, he had read it several times and even translated it to Gerudo. This allowed me to finally write the book and store a copy in a safe place.

The last King of the Gerudo and his wife Ranalla live on in their children and grandchildren, who now populate the new village of the Sheikah. The reader will be pleased to learn that before his adoption by King Daphnis Nohansen and his engagement with Princess Zelda of Hyrule, King Link Wilrid Nohansen _(Renlin Kerdis)_ secretly came to see his parents on the Mountain of the Eagles, as his mother had instructed him with her telepathic message. His adventures on this journey shall be the subject of another book, to be published at a later point.

After his and his wife Zelda's coronation, King Link and the Exalted Nabooru of the Gerudo signed an agreement that forbids the Gerudo Sisters both to choose members of the royal family of Hyrule and to enter the grounds of Hyrule Castle. As the reader might know, there have been no more male Gerudo for the last three hundred years.

The history of the Treasure continues in my books _Fire_ and _Awakening_. The first tells the wondrous love story of my parents Lady Impa of the Sheikah and Lord Richard Kendrice, and the second is a brief narration of my childhood and youth together with my twin sister Drilla, as we were discovering our Sheikah heritage and our deep love for each other.

.

And now, faithful reader, I bow to you to thank you for your patience and your time. If you liked this book, please consider reading my other books, as well as leaving a comment with your opinion for the next readers. If you want to contact me privately for questions or suggestions, please feel free to write a personal message via the postbox of my Hylian translator Eaglechild (Surlan ill Regar), who will gladly forward your message to me.

Thank you.

.

Respectfully,  
Andyr Kendrice  
First of the Sheikah  
Successor of Ranalla

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Translations of the Gerudo and Sheikah prases:

 _Andrys, Ranalla ill Sheikah. - I love you, Ranalla of the Sheikah.  
Miriju va, Ganondorf Dragmire, ri-su ruad. - I love you, Ganondorf Dragmire, my King._


End file.
